May Cause Dizziness
by madlibs44
Summary: An unexpected encounter on the highway forces Optimus to bring yet another human into the Autobot's growing circle of human friends. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, this is my first Transformers story (but not my first ever story). I've completely fallen in love with Transformers Prime and as such have had some plot bunnies running around in my head. I do not intend this story to be a Mary-Sue story. I plan on using my OC to create new and different situation for the Bots that I think would be interesting to see. If it gets a little Mary-Sue-ish, please let me know kindly. This first chapter just sort of explains how my OC gets involved. Please let me know if you would like to see more. Sincerely, madlibs44  
**

**Chapter 1:**

The highway was peaceful at two in the morning. Only a handful of car headlights broke through the darkness. A young college student headed for home in that peaceful dark, driving her red four-door. Her name was Michelle and she sat relaxed against the driver's seat. The cruise set to just above the speed limit and travel tunes emitting softly from the speakers, Michelle honestly believed this to be one of the most relaxing moments of her life. Humming softly with the music, she reached down to grab her soda for a quick sip. Glancing back up through the windshield, she noticed that she was coming up to a lone semi without a trailer.

'Hm,' she mused to herself, 'wonder what he's doing out here so late without any cargo.'

Deciding that she really didn't need to concern herself with the business of the semi, Michelle glanced in her rearview to check that she could shift lanes safely. Her heart almost skipped a beat when a pair of headlights suddenly blinked on off the side of the road and pulled onto the highway.

"Crap!" she hissed quietly, double-checking her speed in fear that it may be a cop. She wasn't speeding. She glanced back at the car again and realized that it didn't have any lights flashing. Laughing softly at herself, she returned her attention to the semi that she was closing in on. "Ah, Michelle you're too jumpy for your own good."

_Click, click, click_. Her turn signal came on after a slight tap and the red car shifted into the left lane to pass the semi. Michelle glanced quickly at the truck as she passed and smiled at the beautiful red paint job. 'Wow, I wish my car could look that nice.'

Her little car finally passed the semi and she glanced in her mirrors to see if it was safe to return to the right lane. As if in response, the semi flashed his high-beams at her as a signal that it was safe to switch back. Or at least that's what she assumed it meant. As she was changing lanes, Michelle began to hear the whir of a helicopter overcome her music.

The young woman nearly slammed on her brakes in surprise as a bright spotlight suddenly shone from the helicopter, the light enveloping her car and the semi behind her. "What the hell?"

A voice came from the helicopter but through all the noise and the shock, Michelle didn't understand a word of it. She jumped as the semi flashed his lights at her several times again and began to speed up behind her. Taking the hint, she stepped on the gas. Even when her speed had reached 90mph (and she had never gone even that fast before), the semi was still on her bumper trying to get her to go faster.

"I'm going!" she cried out frantically, even though nobody would hear her.

Suddenly, Michelle went deaf as a large explosion sounded from behind her. Fire and smoke filled her vision as her car spun around from the force of the explosion. All she could do was simply hold on tight and pray to God. She felt as if she would throw up when her car suddenly stopped its spin, but not of its own accord.

Michelle slumped against the steering wheel, breathing heavily. Her breathe caught in her throat when she noticed a giant metal hand holding the hood of her car. Following the arm connected to the hand, she was awed to find what looked like a large robot. In shock, she thought almost calmly, 'He's red… Just like that semi."

A booming voice startled her out of her paralyzing shock, "You must leave now. Drive to safety."

Michelle nodded dumbly and fumbled to restart her car and shift it into drive. The robot gently picked her car up and set it back on the road facing her original direction. She pressed on the gas and winced as he car chugged away, sounding significantly worse than it had before the explosion. A sigh escaped her lips as she realized that her headlights were out. After barely half a mile down the highway, she slowed her car to a stop and looked back at what was now a blazing battle. Dazed and in shock, she simply watched as the large robot dodged fire and disabled the weapons mounted on the now several cars surrounding him. Michelle idly wondered where they had all come from, why they were attacking the robot, and why wasn't the robot fighting back. She flinched away when she saw the robot look back at her car, blue eyes piercing the darkness.

That second glance back cost the robot as he was finally hit by something, Michelle didn't know what. The robot fell to his knees as electricity arced over his body. Suddenly, Michelle realized that she needed to help the robot. A small voice in the back of her mind told her to drive away as fast as she could. But her heart told her to help those who had helped her and without a second thought, she turned her car around towards the battle and floored it. The strangely-clad soldiers weren't expecting her to return and barely jumped out of the way as her car barreled into the fight. After passing the robot, Michelle slammed on the brakes and cranked the wheel, skidding around in a 360. She smiled triumphantly at having done so successfully on her first try, the adrenaline boosting her confidence and rashness.

The robot gazed down at her as the soldiers began to recover before folding in on itself to become the semi that she had seen earlier. Michelle stared in awe.

"Drive now!" the semi called to her urgently.

Michelle didn't even bother debating his advice as another, smaller explosion occurred and she slammed on the gas. Her car shot past the semi and she glanced back, concerned that it wasn't following, but was relieved to see it once again on her bumper. Her speedometer reached past 100mph as they pulled quickly away from the wreckage of the battle.

Without warning, a glowing green vortex, as Michelle could only describe it, appeared in front of them on the highway. Startled and afraid, she slammed on the breaks but the semi behind her simply pushed her into the green vortex.

"Wait! Sto-!" Michelle's scream was cut off as the vortex closed behind them.

Michelle gripped the steering wheel of her car tightly and shut her eyes as they passed through the vortex. It was extremely unpleasant and the feeling of nausea returned full force. The sensation that her bones were vibrating only lasted a few seconds, though, and soon after, she felt her car come to a stop. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself in her car sitting in a large enclosed space, an annoyed white and orange robot staring down at her.

The college student froze at the sound of whirring and clinking behind her and glanced at the rearview mirror to see two large feet behind her car. She followed the feet as they stepped around her car and over to the other robot, who turned his annoyed look to at the semi-now-turned-robot.

"Optimus," he sighed, "Just how many humans are we going to end up babysitting?"

Something in the back Michelle's mind prickled at 'babysitting' but her shock was too overwhelming for her to really care. Standing in front of her were two giant robots! Why? How did it end up like this? She decided she was never going drive alone that late again. Weird shit apparently happens on highways in the middle of the night. Two large feet standing in front of her car pulled her out of her jumbled thoughts. Leaning forward slightly to look through the top of her windshield, Michelle could still only see the top of his "chest".

"It would be easier to speak with you if you were to step out," a deep voice boomed from high above her. Michelle took a deep breath and slowly opened her car door before finally stepping out. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the giant robot suddenly dropped down to one knee. "What is your name?"

The girl in question opened and closed her mouth several times before answering, "Michelle…. Michelle White."

The large red robot smiled very slightly before his face became emotionless again. "My name is Optimus Prime. This is my medic, Ratchet."

Optimus indicated the smaller white and orange robot standing behind him, who just huffed and returned to what looked like a large computer. Michelle huffed right back at him before turning back to Optimus. She timidly asked, "Where are we?... Who were those people that attacked us... I mean, you?"

Optimus looked away almost apologetically, "The humans who attacked me are part of a terrorist organization known as MECH. Unfortunately, they have no qualms about hurting their own kind and thus, you were drawn into our fight. For your own safety, I brought you here to our base."

Michelle nodded dumbly as she glanced around their 'base'. She half listened as Optimus explained how he lead a team known as Autobots and an eons-long war originating on their planet of Cybertron. She noted the odd presence of a human couch that seemed very out of place in the base. Shrugging it off as something to figure out later, she glanced back at her car.

"My car!" she cried with dismay. Before her, sitting low on now flat tires, was her poor, first car. Its red paint job was scratched, smeared, and blackened from burns and soot. The hood had a large, hand-shaped dent in the front. The front license plate was completely gone and the headlights were hanging by wires. The back windshield, she just noticed now, had a large crack across it. The poor college student had saved for several years to afford a car, even a cheap one such as this, and now it was totaled.

Behind her, Optimus glanced up at Ratchet, who rolled his optics before sighing, "I might be able to fix it if I have time. I think this would be better left for Agent Fowler to take care of, though."

Optimus gazed back down at the now frantic young woman in front of him. "Do you require transportation immediately? I believe it would be best for you to stay here until our liaison, Agent Fowler, can arrive here and speak with you about what you witnessed this evening."

"I guess I can stay," Michelle replied hesitantly. "Nobody's expecting me anywhere tonight."

Ratchet scoffed and narrowed his optics at the young woman. "That doesn't sound safe, travelling without anybody knowing where you are or where you are going. The other children report in to their parents almost hourly."

"I'm not a child. My parents don't need to know where I am, especially since I've been in college for nearly three years now," Michelle crossed her arms and glared up at the medic. She hid a grimace as she felt slight tremors run through her body.

Optimus stood up to his full height and gestured towards the couch, effectively ending any further argument. "I don't know what humans require for a full recharge but I have seen Jack resting on the couch before. I hope that is satisfactory at least for tonight."

Michelle nodded shakily before turning to head towards the couch. Except that there was a giant foot in her way. She craned her neck back to look up at the grouchy medic. She gripped her hands tightly as her body twitched.

Ratchet narrowed his optics at the human. "Why did your body suddenly start shaking?"

Michelle was now gripping her hands tight enough to cause the knuckles to go white. Taking a deep breath, she answered, "I'm having a panic attack. I shake uncontrollably when I have a panic attack."

Ratchet straightened immediately, "I'll contact Nurse Darby and bridge her hear immediately-."

"No, that's not necessary," Michelle interrupted through her now chattering teeth. "I just need to lie down and calm down. It'll stop in like 10 minutes."

Ratchet seemed about to protest but Optimus held up a hand. "You've experienced this before I presume?" When she nodded, he continued, "Then we'll allow you to rest but if you're condition persists for more than 10 minutes, we will contact Nurse Darby."

Michelle sighed and continued towards the couch, climbing the stairs slowly, "Fair enough."

"We should let her calm down, old friend," the Autobot leader suggested. As Michelle lay down on the beaten up old couch, Ratchet followed Optimus Prime out of the main hangar.

Ten minutes later on the dot, Ratchet returned to find the human fast asleep on the couch. Grumbling something about human health issues, he returned to his computer station and his work, though more quietly than normal.

**So that's it for the first chapter. Please review and let me know if you're interested in reading more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, this is the second chapter of my story. Oh I forgot to do this last chapter. But I do NOT own anything in this story, except may be my OC. But since she isn't really worth much, it doesn't make much sense to claim her. Anyway, I completed this chapter in lieu of a stupid Soil Mechanics lab on the time rate of consolidation of a soil. So please enjoy! Sincerely, madlibs44  
**

**Chapter 2:**

"Hey, who's this chick?"

"Ratchet said she was someone that Optimus picked up in a fight with MECH last night."

"What? So the new girl gets to see the 'bots in action but I can't?"

"Miko, it's not like she got involved in the fight willing…"

Michelle moaned as the voices around her continued. Why couldn't she be left to sleep in peace? She jumped as something poked her side and she swung her arm out to smack it away. Her hand missed its intended target but indicated to those around her that she was, indeed, alive.

"Hey! She's awake!"

"I thought I told you all to leave her alone!" Michelle recognized Ratchet's voice and his booming footsteps became louder as several human-sounding feet hurried away from the couch. Ratchet's steps stopped just before the elevated landing that the couch resided on and his voice sounded from above her. "So you're finally awake? It's about time."

Michelle cracked her eyes open at his annoyed huff. Sitting up slightly, she reached for her phone and checked the time. The college student blinked several times at the time on her phone before giving Ratchet a confused look. "What? It's only 6:30. Why didn't you let me sleep in longer?"

Ratchet rolled his optics, "It's 6:30 in the evening. You've been in recharge for over twelve hours. I thought humans only required eight hours of recharge?"

Michelle sat up and stretched, glancing back at the three humans who were now inching back up onto the landing. "Well, I am in college."

"That answer doesn't make any sense."

"It does if you know anything about college students."

"Hey, come on, Ratch'," a young Asian girl said as she plopped herself down on the couch next to Michelle. "Just accept it as one of those human things you'll never understand."

The medic in question just heaved a sigh before walking away. As he left, the other humans quickly surrounded the older girl. The Asian girl scooted closer on the couch excitedly, "So what was it like seeing Optimus in action? It must have been awesome. I've never really gotten to see him fighting before. So where are you from? What's your name?"

The younger girl was prevented from asking further questions by a hand on her mouth. She glared up at the owner of the hand, a teenage boy who spoke, "Sorry, this is Miko. I'm Jack. This is Raf." He pointed to a much younger boy next to him.

Miko pulled his hand away, "I was gonna get to that, Jack! So what's your name?"

Michelle laughed softly before answering, "I'm Michelle. It's nice to meet you. As for your question about the fight… I don't really remember much. It's kind of a big blur in my memory."

"So are you from around here?" Raf asked.

"Uh, where's here?"

"Jasper, Nevada."

Michelle's mouth hung open for a second in surprise before answering, "I'm from the East Coast so… No, I'm not from around here."

"Where on the East Coast?" a voice boomed from behind the couch, making Michelle jump nearly a foot. She turned to see a large green robot standing behind her. "I've been over there on patrol a couple times. There are some pretty nice places over there. I'm Bulkhead, by the way."

"Hi, Bulkhead," Michelle nodded to him. "Ever been anywhere in New York?"

"Oh yeah, a few times," He smiled. "That city is bigger than some of the ones on Cybertron."

Michelle's face fell a bit and she sighed, "I meant New York the state, not the city. Why does everyone think that New York equals New York City?"

Bulkhead frowned and rubbed his head, "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize there was a difference."

"Don't worry about it, Bulk," Miko laughed. She jumped off the couch and walked over to him. "How about we go out and hit the dunes?"

"Sure! See you later guys!" With that, Bulkhead transformed into an armored truck and drove off through what Michelle assumed was the exit, Miko strapped tightly in the front seat.

"So… who's up for some racing?" Jack offered soon after an awkward silence fell between the three humans on the couch. He was met with an eager nod from Raf, who grabbed a controller sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. Jack offered the second and last controller to Michelle but she waved him off, preferring to watch. The boys played several races, Raf winning most but Jack was a good loser. Much better than her brothers, Michelle mused. A little while into the racing, a yellow robot joined their small group, beeping and waving at Michelle, who waved back uncertainly. Raf didn't even glance up from the game to say, "Oh, that's Bumblebee."

A smaller, slimmer blue robot came to stand next to Bumblebee. The blue robot gave a pointed look towards the new human, as if sizing her up, before turning to Jack. "Hey, Jack, your mom has been trying to get a hold of you for a half hour now. She got off early and wants you to come home for dinner."

Jack sighed and set down his controller mid-race. "Great, tofu dinner. Arcee, this is Michelle. Michelle, Arcee."

Jack rubbed the back of his head as the two females simply looked at each other for a few moments. Arcee was secretly relieved to find another female in the base besides herself, the immature Miko, and the overly-motherly June. After several moments, Arcee nodded to the college student, who nodded back, and the femme waved Jack towards the exit. Michelle watched them leave as Bumblebee picked up a race with Raf.

Turning to Raf after they had left, Michelle asked, "Does Arcee not like me?"

Raf paused the race and he and Bumblebee looked at each other for a moment before turning back to her and shrugging simultaneously. Then, they returned to their game, laughing and beeping excitedly. Michelle simply sighed and draped herself over the arm of the couch, beginning to feel restless. According to her phone, she had been "missing" from the world for almost 18 hours now. Glancing idly around the base, she realized her car was not where she had left it last night. She sat up straighter and craned her neck to try and find her car but to no avail.

The young woman was about to get up and search for her car when loud footsteps announced Ratchet's arrival. He barely spared a glance at Raf and Bumblebee before settling his gaze on the newest addition to the base, which had come over to the railing to stare up at him.

"Are your optics malfunctioning?" he grumbled, narrowing his own optics at her. The human female's face went red and she quickly looked away. He noticed her eyes roaming quickly around the room. "Your car is in the medbay. Your primitive Earth tech is so easily breakable it's a wonder how humans can survive crashes of any sort."

Michelle chose to ignore his comment. "Will you be able to fix it, though? I kinda rely on it for food."

Ratchet straightened and blinked his optics in confusion. He had thought humans consumed other organic material as "food," not metal. Why any human would eat their transportation was completely beyond his realm of logic. "I don't understand."

"I need my car to go grocery shopping."

Oh, that made more sense. Ratchet let out a flustered sigh, "It will take some work but the technology is simple enough."

"How long?" Michelle asked, cracking her knuckles absentmindedly in a way that made the medic cringe.

The medic began to answer but was cut off as the proximity alarm sounded. He had to contain a laugh when he noticed the new human jump quite obviously when the alarm went off. Ratchet turned to the screens and grumbled at the sight of Fowler's helicopter landing on the base roof. He didn't even turn his head as Optimus walked into the main room and stood behind him, awaiting the government agent. Out of the corner of his optic, he noticed Raf and Bumblebee turn off their game and quietly but quickly exit the base. To say that few on the team actually liked the man would be correct.

"Prime!"

Optimus sighed from behind him as Agent Fowler exited the elevator. Michelle visibly straightened and took a deep breath before stepping up to the man. Fowler was cut short mid-rant as the young woman held out her hand to him. The courtesy of a handshake was rare with his type of work. Nevertheless, he took her hand and gave it a firm shake. He then turned his attention to Optimus Prime.

"This is the human you picked up last night, I presume?" he asked. Michelle noticed that the man stood in a way to make him seem taller, an effort that was quite pointless in the presence of the very large Autobot leader.

"Indeed. As unfortunate as her involvement is, it was unavoidable," the Prime nodded to Agent Fowler. "As with the other children, her safety is of utmost importance. We have yet to assign her a guardian but we wanted to speak with you first."

Michelle huffed and stepped forward, not wanting to be left out of a conversation about herself. "Wait, I am not a child. I don't need a guardian. Can't I just go home now?"

Agent Fowler glanced between her and Optimus before responding, "If she doesn't want an Autobot guardian, the agency could provide her with the proper human protection."

Michelle stood by quietly, though not willingly, as Optimus and Fowler debated about her own safety. She was not a minor anymore! She could legally make her own decisions. Why were they insisting on involving her even further in some sort of secret? Her frustration increased with each passing minute as their conversation continued without consulting her.

"Oh my god, stop!" Michelle finally shouted, holding up her hands for emphasis. The two robots and man before her simply looked at her. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Why do I need some sort of protection? Those MECH guys last night were quite obviously attacking _you_." She pointed to Optimus. "Can't I just go home, not speak of this again, and go on with my life as a broke college student?"

Agent Fowler rubbed the bridge of his nose and Optimus looked back at Ratchet. Michelle looked expectantly between the three of them. Finally, Optimus answered, "We have reason to believe that MECH may now know who you are and where you live, since your license plate was missing from the scene of the attack last night."

"Okay… But that still doesn't explain why I need protection. They're after you, not me."

Agent Fowler stepped in, "They saw you help Prime and enter the groundbridge with him. They've probably already assumed that you are a human friend of the Autobots. They've attacked Jack and his mother before in order to get to the Autobots, so we're afraid they might do something similar with you."

Michelle revisited the events of last night in her mind. She vaguely remembered returning to the fight to help Optimus. The adrenaline rush had made her memories hazy. But even though she had helped the robot, she didn't believe that would have been enough reason for them to come after her. After all, they had basically bombed her car. Any angry New York driver would have gone back to pick a fight. Her mouth turned down in an angry frown as she came upon a realization. Turning to Optimus, she nearly spat out, "If you hadn't pushed me into that portal thing, they probably wouldn't give a damn about me!"

Ratchet mumbled a soft "I told you so" as Optimus' own mouth turned into a guilty frown. The Autobot leader responded gravely, "It seemed to be the best course of action at the time. I could not risk your safety by leaving you there. MECH and their leader, Silas, are extremely unpredictable and ruthless."

"Well, now what?" Michelle hissed at him. She felt some slight satisfaction at seeing the large robot recoil very, very slightly at her anger. "Am I supposed to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder?"

Agent Fowler came and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "That's what we're trying to take care of. The bots here will be watching over you just as long as MECH is a threat to your safety. Once MECH is taken care of, you can decide to cut all ties with the Autobots if you want."

Michelle's shoulders slumped in defeat. Arguing further wouldn't help her situation. What's done is done. Running a hand through her blonde hair, Michelle sighed and looked up at Optimus. "Which one of you 'bots' is stuck with me, then?"

Ratchet raised one of his servos to his face in a gesture he saw Miko use quite often. "Nose goes."

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this. Please review and feel free to point out any blatant spelling/grammar errors. I like to believe that I'm pretty good at catching them but some things do get missed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! I don't own anything in this story except my OC. I hope this chapter isn't too boring. I'm not good at filler stuff. If you have any ideas for bot-human interactions please let me know and I'll consider it. So here is chapter 3. Sincerely, madlibs44**

**Chapter 3:**

Jack and Arcee rode into the base soaking wet from the torrential downpour currently afflicting Jasper, Nevada. As Arcee headed into the back rooms to dry off, Jack tugged off his rain jacket and shook out his hair. His sneakers squeaked as he climbed the steps up to the humans' loft. After throwing his jacket over the railing to drip dry, Jack plopped himself down on the couch next to Michelle. She had been visiting the base daily for a few weeks now and usually arrived earlier than himself and the other kids due to the time difference and her college schedule. He sighed and picked up the remote, "It's on days like this I wish Arcee was a covered vehicle."

"Hey, this isn't much fun for me either, Jack," Arcee grumbled, reappearing with a large towel in her hand. "It's never rained this much here before."

Jack shrugged, "My science teacher blames it on global warming."

Michelle 'hmmed' and flipped a page in the notebook she was reviewing. Jack glanced over her shoulder but could only make out a strange stick-like diagram and several worked equations following it. He glanced towards the entrance and Michelle jumped as Bumblebee honked to announce his arrival. Jack looked enviously at Raf's dry clothes.

"I thought Miko and Bulkhead were with you two," Jack said, getting up and leaning on the railing.

Bumblebee beeped and Raf listened for a minute before answering, "They went to go get muddy."

"Wonderful," Ratchet moaned, stepping out from the medbay followed by Optimus.

Michelle glanced up from her work. "Everything check out, Doc?"

"Yes, yes, he's fine," Ratchet waved her off. Optimus simply nodded to the group in the base before transforming and driving off. "I honestly don't understand why you insisted on having me check him. It was only a scratch and a very minor one at that."

Michelle shrugged and wandered over to the medic. "I just felt guilty that he got it in the first place."

"Wait, what happened?" Arcee asked, tensing slightly at the thought of danger. Jack patted her hand reassuringly and rolled his eyes.

Michelle sighed and her shoulders drooped slightly, "Nothing really, just some drunken idiots at my university doing stupid things… It was kinda funny when they pissed there pants and ran, though."

Michelle chuckled softly at the memory. Jack and Arcee shared a look for a moment as both realized that they would probably need to ask Ratchet for the full story, since neither Michelle nor Optimus seemed to want to divulge anything more.

Jack thought back to when Michelle had first come to the base a few weeks ago. Ratchet had firmly refused to be her guardian as Optimus had been the one to pick her up and because the medic already had to deal with the kids whenever the others were out on patrol. Reluctantly, Optimus had agreed to be her 'guardian' though he did little more than pick her up and drop her off. The two were nothing alike. Michelle was timid, jumpy and skittish as a cat, and extremely sarcastic. She seemed a much better match for Ratchet, as they both were deeply engrossed in their work, sarcastic, and generally avoided Miko.

Jack slowly walked back over to the couch as Michelle discussed something or other with Ratchet. Turning to Raf, he asked, "Raf, do you wanna race?"

Raf frowned and walked over, Bumblebee beeping and making gestures of explosions from behind him. "We can't. Bee and I were playing yesterday when the console overheated and… blew up." Bumblebee beeped a few more times in a laugh. "Oh, yea. It nearly gave Michelle a heart attack!"

"That's not funny!" Michelle called from across the platform. "Ratchet doesn't know how to perform CPR, yet!"

"As if I could even if I knew how," Ratchet muttered.

Michelle laughed and walked over to Jack and Raf, "Well, lucky for you guys, I brought something better."

With that, she pulled out an old Nintendo 64 from her backpack along with several games and controllers. Jack laughed as Raf fawned over the old game console. Flicking through some of the games, Jack recognized a few. Several racing games sat on top of the pile, looking to be the most used out of the bunch.

"I thought you didn't like racing games," Jack pointed out as Michelle and Raf hooked the Nintendo 64 up to the TV.

"I love racing games," Michelle responded, her voice muffled as she ducked behind the TV. "I was just afraid you guys would never want to play with me again."

"Why wouldn't we want to race you?" Raf asked.

Michelle returned from behind the TV and began fiddling with the console. "Well… My family, my friends, even my own boyfriend won't race me anymore because… I kind of beat everyone one too many times."

Bumblebee beeped a challenge and Raf nodded. "I'm sure we can beat you!"

Jack smirked and held up a game, "How about we all test her at this one?"

"Oh, wow!" Raf jumped up and took the game from him. "You have Mariokart 64?"

Michelle nodded and took the game from him. It took several minutes for her to get the game up and running. The system was over ten years old so it took a while to warm up. As the menu screen came on, she passed out the controllers and Bumblebee hooked himself up to the game however he did it with the last console.

"Let the games begin," Jack announced.

* * *

When Miko and Bulkhead finally returned to base, Jack and Raf had dropped out of the races. Bumblebee and Michelle had already gone through two different racing games and were currently on their third. Both kept winning back and forth and Raf and Jack were beginning to get bored. Arcee had tried to get Jack interested in going for a drive since the rain had stopped, but he simply did not want to have anything to do with driving or racing for the rest of the night.

"Whoa, Michelle's actually racing?" Miko exclaimed as Bulkhead placed her on the landing. "I bet she's getting creamed by Bumblebee!"

Raf looked up at her as if she were stupid. "They've been tied for the past three hours."

Miko's mouth hung open and Bulkhead chuckled, tapping one of his digits lightly on the bottom of her chin to close her mouth. Annoyed, she shoved his digit away from her and crossed her arms over her chest. "Doesn't anyone want to know about the awesome mud slides Bulk and I were doing?"

Indeed, Bulkhead was covered from head to foot in mud that was now dripping onto the floor. But Jack and Raf simply looked at the two newcomers. Miko huffed and stomped back down the stairs, waving for Bulk to follow her into the back rooms. Jack and Rad watched them go before sighing and looking back at the never-ending competition between Bumblebee and Michelle. Loud footsteps could be heard coming from the medbay, stopping just before the giant mud puddle on the floor.

"Bulkhead!"

* * *

It was later that night and the humans had long since gone home. Ratchet stood at the monitors, searching for any Decepticon activity or energon readings. He paused as Optimus commed for a groundbridge. He locked onto his leader's coordinates and waited semi-patiently as Optimus appeared in vehicle mode. The large mech transformed and strode over to the medic, glancing briefly at the monitors. Ratchet gazed at Optimus, waiting for the report he knew was coming.

"I have seen no signs of MECH around the university. The university police have the area consistently patrolled and there are very few openings during which MECH would be able to take any actions towards Michelle," Optimus paused and shuttered his optics for a moment. "But I am concerned by the lack of MECH activity since the attack of the highway."

Ratchet sighed and crossed his arms. "Perhaps Michelle was right in believing that MECH is not interested in her. You may be jeopardizing her safety more by constantly patrolling around her living space."

The Autobot leader was silent for several moments. "If MECH did not realize our connection at the initial attack, it would stand to reason that my continued surveillance of her would tip off MECH."

"But if they did in fact make that connection at the initial attack and if we decided to discontinue her protection…" Ratchet mused, his mouth turning into a deep frown.

"I believe it is too late to make such a decision, old friend," Optimus sighed, turning to look at the medic. "Are you really so eager to be rid of the human?"

Ratchet gave a small start and gave a flustered answer. "No! I'm just concerned for her safety. She is considerably more tolerable than the other human children despite her insistence that she is _not_ a child."

Optimus smiled and put his hand on the smaller bots shoulder, "By human standards, she is not."

"Yes, well," Ratchet started, "it would be a pity to see her go. She is certainly the most mature human who is constantly in our base."

"Jack has matured significantly since we first met him," Optimus pointed out.

Ratchet nodded, "That is true…" The medic began mumbling to himself and returned to the monitors. Optimus smiled again before turning to leave.

"Be sure to get some rest, old friend."

"Yes, yes."

* * *

The dark room was illuminated only by a lone computer screen. On this screen, an infrared image was displayed of a small apartment. A few red blotches indicated humans as they moved about the apartment. A bent and scorched license plate sat on the table in front of the computer screen. Soft steps sounded as a man stepped up to the screen. The light from the screen illuminated his face. An evil smile pulled at the scar along his face.

**Cliffhanger... Cliffjumper... We honor his memory. But maybe I should make you guys wait more than a day for the next chapter lol... Not. This is way more fun than writing a paper on the mass balance of a pollutant in a natural system. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! Here is Chapter 4. I think this is the longest chapter so far. I just couldn't get a witty line to end on so I kept writing lol. As always, I don't own anything. Oh by the way, this story is set in Season 2 before Nemesis Prime, at least at this point. Sincerely, madlibs44.**

**Chapter 4:**

"My life is over!"

"Stop being so overdramatic, Jack," Arcee rolled her optics. She watched her partner as he nervously ran his hands through his hair while he paced the humans' loft. Raf and Miko watched the teenager go back and forth as if it were a tennis match, completely enthralled by his predicament.

Jack stopped to glare back up at Arcee. "I am _not_ being overdramatic. My mom will _kill_ me when she finds out that I'm failing, not one, but two classes!"

Bumblebee beeped and Raf nodded. "Bee's right, Jack. I'm sure your mom will understand now that she knows about the Autobots."

Jack exhaled strongly and brought his hands to his head in frustration. "That's not a good excuse, Raf. And even if my mom accepts it how am I supposed to explain it to my teachers? Or to colleges when I start applying soon?"

"Dude, grades are so overrated," Miko laughed, leaning back into the couch. Jack simply shot a glare in her direction, having already decided to ignore her additions to the conversation.

Bulkhead looked down at Miko disappointedly, "Miko… you need good grades to get into college. Do you want a mundane job like flipping burgers for your whole life?... No offense, Jack."

"None taken," the teenage boy muttered.

Raf looked thoughtful for a moment. "Why don't you talk to Michelle? She's in college so she could probably give you some good advice."

Jack just moaned and let himself fall into a seat on the couch. Arcee grumbled, extremely frustrated with her partner at the moment, "He tried that already but she's with Ratchet right now."

"Ratchet the Hatchet threw him out of the medbay, huh?" Bulkhead chuckled.

Miko raised an eyebrow up at Bulkhead, "What are they doing in there anyway?"

* * *

"This right here will activate the electric pulse shield. It'll knock out any dangerous humans and Cybertronians who come in contact with your car…"

Michelle tried to follow along as Ratchet explained his modifications to her car. She had simply asked him to fix her car, as in return it to its original state before the attack. But he had gone above and beyond her request. She had to wonder if he actually had fun messing with the "primitive technology" that was her car. In addition to the shock defense thing, he had upgraded her radio-stereo system so that she could contact the Autobots on their comlinks. Attached to her new radio was a small but high quality screen that Ratchet had described as some sort of GPS-slash-Autobot-finder. He had wanted to add additional armor to the vehicle but didn't have enough materials to spare. Michelle was glad, though. The extra weight would've caused her gas mileage to plummet and her gas expenses to skyrocket.

"That should be everything," Ratchet finished, looking quite proud of his work. Michelle smiled up at him sheepishly before looking back to admire her car. It had been cleaned and waxed, the dents pounded out and the burned paint replaced. Ratchet had decided, for some strange reason, that her car did not look very good in red. Instead, he had repainted it a light grayish-blue. Michelle had to admit that she did like the color change.

"I should name him."

"W-what?" Ratchet stammered, caught off guard by her statement. "Why in the world would you name a non-sentient being?"

Michelle looked back at him and shrugged. "Humans name inanimate objects all the time. Besides, he's kinda like an honorary member of Team Prime."

Ratchet stared down at the human before him. Humans made very little sense to the poor mech. "It _is_ your car," he sighed, waving her off as he walked over to his tool bench.

Michelle smiled brightly and stared at the car for several minutes. She had to pick a good name, one that was subtle but obvious at the same time. It needed to be a name that would stick. When she had first got the car, it would constantly swerve towards the right due to a misalignment. 'Sideswipe' came to mind but then she realized that Ratchet had probably fixed the misalignment problem. She thought of the name 'Kit', which was from some old TV show she had never watched. Maybe Orion Pax because that was Optimus' original name. But that would probably cause some issues with certain mechs, so no. The color kind of reminded her of an early summer morning just before the sun came up. 'Sunrise'? Ick, no, that was way too cheesy. Suddenly, the perfect name popped into her head and she turned back to Ratchet excitedly, who had begun to organize his tools.

"Bluestreak!"

Ratchet nearly dropped his strange drill-looking device in surprise as he whipped around to look at her. His mouth opened and closed several times, causing the young woman to frown and tilt her head to the side in confusion. "How do you know that name?"

Michelle blinked up at him. "What? Bluestreak? I just came up with it… because he's blue and he went really fast when I first met you guys… Is something wrong with that name?"

"No, no, it's just a coincidence," Ratchet muttered before turning back to his tools. Michelle continued stare at him, completely confused. "Are your optics malfunctioning _again_?"

Michelle quickly turned back to her car, muttering a quick "no". Climbing into her car, she admired all the new tech once more before turning it on. She sighed as the car hummed softly and smoothly, sounding much better than it probably had even when it was brand new. Shifting smoothly into drive, she drove her car out into the main room of the base and parked it next to the stairs. Climbing back out, she smirked up at the awed look Raf was giving her car.

"Isn't Ratchet awesome?" she exclaimed happily as she walked briskly up the steps. Looking around, she noticed certain absences. "Where is everybody?"

"Oh, Optimus commed and asked for their help in the field," Raf answered. "They should be back soon, though."

Michelle nodded slowly, "Ok… but that doesn't explain where Miko and Jack are."

Raf looked away nervously, "About that…"

"Ratchet," Optimus' voice sounded over the comm. "Send a groundbridge immediately for Jack and Miko."

* * *

"Miko, what were you thinking?" Jack shouted over the noise of the battle. "Oh, wait. You _weren't_."

Miko sneered back at him as she took photos with her phone, "You didn't have to follow me."

Jack put a hand to his face in exasperation. A loud bang was heard and a moment later a Vehicon body flew over the two humans. Miko grinned and took a quick picture as it sailed over their heads. Jack peered over the rock they were hiding behind and winced as he saw Arcee get kicked in the equivalent of her gut by Knockout. Optimus and Megatron were fighting a ways off and Jack noted how it seemed as if they were dancing, their moves were so graceful and timed. He didn't even look away from the fighting as he answered his now ringing phone.

"What do you two think you're doing?"

Jack sighed, "Hey, I tried to stop Miko from following the bots and I got pulled along." He tuned out Ratchet's lecturing, having heard several times from several different people how dangerous an active battlefield was. The teenager turned to the younger girl. "Miko, time to go. Ratchet's sending a groundbridge."

"Awe!" she moaned but put her phone away nonetheless. "My phone's almost dead anyway."

Jack just rolled his eyes and planned out the safest route from their hiding spot to the now open groundbridge. Taking Miko's hand, he pulled her along as he darted from boulder to boulder. He pulled Miko quickly behind one large rock just before she was squashed by Bulkhead's large foot. The two humans felt as if they were beginning to go deaf from all the gunfire around them. Both froze as a Vehicon spotted them and began to run over. Jack sighed in relief as Bumblebee slammed into the Vehicon, sending both Cybertronians flying into a nearby rock face. Seeing an opening, Jack and Miko sprinted the last stretch to the groundbridge.

"Ratchet! Close the groundbridge!" Jack heard Arcee scream. The two humans were mere feet from the groundbridge when it suddenly closed in front of them.

"What gives?" Miko exclaimed, staring at the space where the groundbridge was a moment ago. Jack glanced back at the battle and his eyes widened.

"Go, go, go!" he screamed, pushing Miko away.

The two managed to dive behind a boulder just as Megatron skidded to a stop in front of where the Autobot groundbridge was moments before. Miko was panicking beside him and he placed a hand over her mouth to keep her incoherent, frightened mutterings from alerting the Decepticon leader to their presence.

Megatron growled at his missed chance to infiltrate the Autobot base. He turned away from the closed groundbridge and searched the ground for the two humans he knew he had seen there moments ago. An evil grin crept onto his face as he spotted the toe of Jack's shoe poking out from behind a nearby boulder. He stepped around the boulder so that he could see them fully and laughed as they tried to press themselves further into the rock. The Decepticon lord reached down to grab the two humans. "I remember you," he chuckled darkly.

An energon blast got him in the back and he stumbled past the humans, falling to his knees. Not a second later, Bumblebee rolled in, grabbing the two humans mid-roll before transforming. The yellow Autobot tore away from the battle with Jack and Miko in his alt mode as fast as he could, flying past Optimus, who had his gun aimed at Megatron's back. Arcee and Bulkhead deflected any Vehicons that attempted to attack the Autobot leader.

Megatron sneered and stood up, his back facing his nemesis, "How uncharacteristic of you, Optimus. Shooting an enemy in the back is against your nature."

With that, Megatron transformed and jetted away, followed by whatever Vehicons were still functioning enough to fly or drive away. Optimus, Arcee, and Bulkhead fired off a few parting shots but only managed to disable one Vehicon as it straggled behind. Optimus slowly lowered his gun and observed the damage around him.

Arcee continued to stare in the direction of Megatron's departure. "Too bad you didn't get in a shot to his head."

Optimus looked critically at the blue femme. "Ratchet, we need a groundbridge. Bumblebee, what is your location?"

"He's back at base with Jack and Miko, Optimus," Ratchet's voice sounded over the comm. "Is it safe to reopen the groundbridge?"

"Yes, the Megatron and his troops have departed."

In response, the groundbridge reopened in front of the three remaining Autobots in the field. As Arcee and Bulkhead entered the portal, Optimus took a moment to double-check the immediate area for cons. When he stepped through the portal a moment later, Optimus was met with the sight of Mrs. Darby scolding both her son and Miko. She must have arrived on base sometime during the battle.

"How could you two be so reckless?" the nurse asked angrily. Jack looked absolutely horrified while Miko seemed to not care at all.

"Mom," Jack pleaded, "I only went in because Miko did and I-."

"If Miko jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?"

Optimus sent a reprimanding stare at Michelle, who was trying very hard not to laugh. Michelle sat up straight, face red, when she noticed the large Autobot's gaze on her. Satisfied that the young woman would at least try to take the situation seriously, Optimus turned to see Raf conversing with Bumblebee. The young boy seemed quite concerned about the young bot and Optimus couldn't help but smile at the two. A tap on his leg brought Optimus out of his thoughts. Looking down, he saw an angry Nurse Darby standing by his foot staring up at him with her arms crossed.

"Yes, Nurse Darby?"

June huffed and flipped away a few stray hairs. "Optimus, you really need to keep better track of these kids. Sooner or later, someone is going to get seriously hurt _again,_ or worse, killed if these incidents keep happening."

"As always, the safety of the children is our top priority," he explained softly. The woman didn't seem satisfied by that answer. "We have tried several times to explain to our charges the danger of following us onto a battlefield. Perhaps some stricter regulations should be put in place?"

Jack's mother smiled at the suggestion but Jack cringed and moved discreetly so that he was standing behind Arcee's leg. The small femme smirked down at him. June turned to look up at the human loft, where Michelle was now leaning on the railing.

"Maybe they just need a better babysitter than Ratchet," she said innocently but looking pointedly at the college student.

"Finally," Ratchet muttered from where he stood at the monitors and Michelle blanched.

Optimus smiled, "If that would make you feel better about leaving the children in our care, Michelle would be happy to perform such a task."

"Hey, wait!" Michelle called from the loft. "I happen to know that Miko listens to me even less than she listens to Ratchet."

"As if that were possible," Ratchet muttered again. The medic returned quickly to his work after a sharp look from Optimus.

Mrs. Darby put her hands her hips and gave Michelle an authoritative look. "Well, then, you'll just have to start learning to how to keep her in line."

Miko let out a small 'pfft' from her perch on Bulkhead's shoulder.

"And Jackson Darby," June spun around to face her son and Jack obligingly edged out from behind Arcee. "There's no school tomorrow due to teachers' meetings. I expect you to go with Michelle tomorrow and visit her university. I already have a list of people I want you to find and talk to and what questions to ask."

"What? Mom, you can't just dump me on Michelle all of a sudden," Jack stammered, waving his hand towards Michelle. The college student was looking oddly smug. "She probably has plans tomorrow."

"Actually," Michelle chimed in, smiling innocently. "I already talked to your mom about this. I'm all free tomorrow."

Jack's shoulders dropped as he accepted his defeat. He looked up at Arcee hopefully. "Ready to see a college campus, partner?"

"Sorry, I have patrol tomorrow," Arcee chuckled, smiling down at her partner. "Optimus will be taking you."

"Yeah, Optimus already has experience with college students," Michelle laughed and Optimus grimaced slightly. As she walked back to her pile of work on the couch, she shouted back to the teenage boy, "Think of this as punishment for your poor report card!"

June spun around to look at her son again, a murderous look in her eyes.

* * *

"Thanks a lot, Michelle," Jack grumbled, kicking his feet as waited for Michelle to finish getting ready. Optimus had dropped him off at her apartment at 8am EST, meaning 5am in Jasper, Nevada. The boy yawned and leaned back into her couch. "Now I'm grounded for a month."

Michelle laughed as she stepped out of her bedroom all set to go. "Just use the month to get your college applications out of the way. Or at least started. Ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jack sighed and looked down at the long college to-do list his mom had given him that morning. "I'm surprised she's having me look at a college this far from home, though. She misses me even when I'm gone for a day."

His older companion laughed as they walked out of the apartment building, "That's moms for you. She's probably just trying to get you to broaden your horizons and stuff like that."

The two waved at Optimus as he drove by on his patrol of the campus. Michelle had to wonder how he had been patrolling for weeks now without anyone reporting him as a suspicious vehicle to the campus police. It probably had something to do with Agent Fowler. They crossed onto the main part of campus and made their way to the Admissions Office. They stopped just before the office door and Michelle turned to Jack.

"Ready to start the long, tiresome process of college search-and-apply?"

"No."

* * *

**So there's Chapter 4. I realized as I was spellchecking that Michelle knows about Jack's bad grades even though she wasn't there when he was being overdramatic about it. So let's just assume that Raf told her because we all know that he can't keep a secret lol. Anyway please review if you liked it or if you have any suggestions. Lilygirl33 if you call me out on the POVs or something stupid again, I'm going to kick your ass. (She's my sister by the way so don't think that I'm threatening some stranger.) Have a nice day and good luck on finals to all the college students!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, sorry for the wait. I've had finals and slight writer's block. But finals are done and I'm back in a writing mood. I don't own anything but my OC. My boyfriend was reading my story and when he finished the first chapter, he pointed out that if I'm trying to write a realistic character, it would be more realistic if Michelle had simply driven off during the fight in the first chapter. I pointed out to him that there would be no story if she had done that. But I digress. Here is Chapter 5! Sincerely, madlibs44.**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

Michelle stared at the puzzle pieces before her on the coffee table, searching for one particular piece. She had started the 1000 piece puzzle about two hours ago and only had the edges finished. The soft melodies of her Lord of the Rings soundtracks drifted from her computer as it sat next to her on the couch. The only other sound to be heard in the entire base was the light beeping from the monitors as Ratchet worked. She and the medic were the only ones in the base and they both reveled in the peace and quiet.

Ratchet glanced over at the puzzle pieces for a moment before pointing, with difficulty, to one small piece off to the side of the pile. "Try this one."

The college student picked up said piece and looked between it and the partially assembled puzzle for several moments before finally placing it into its corresponding spot. Ratchet nodded with satisfaction and turned back to his work. He had offered more frequent help when the young woman had first started the puzzle. But after the student had expressed frustration with his fast processing speed, which was significantly faster than that of a human brain, he had decided to offer aid only when she became stuck.

"Explain to me again why you are doing this," Ratchet waved his hand to her puzzle, "instead of working on that hydraulics project you were complaining about."

Michelle didn't even look up as she responded, "I've been really stressed out lately. This helps me relax and unwind."

Ratchet grumbled slightly but his mouth turned up in a slight smile. "Ah yes, stressing your brain by straining your eyes in search of one piece among a myriad of others is certainly the ideal way to relax."

"Oh, shut up."

The medic chuckled as he turned back to the monitors and Michelle returned her attention to her puzzle. After a few minutes, a frustrated sigh escaped her lips. But when Ratchet moved to point out another piece, she shooed his servo away. Glancing up at him, she asked, "So how much longer until the others grace us with their loud company?"

Ratchet idly checked his chronometer before answering, "The children were just released from school. They should be here soon."

"Can't you tell Bulk, Arcee, and Bee to keep them away from base for a few more hours?"

"Unfortunately," Ratchet grunted, "Jack is confined to the base on the terms of his 'grounding'." The medic paused for a moment. "However, it seems that Miko has detention, at least according to Bulkhead. Again."

Michelle rolled her eyes and leaned away from the puzzle for a moment. "When is that girl gonna realize that no matter how stupid school seems now, it's necessary to survive in human society. She's almost as bad as my brothers."

Ratchet looked down at his 'favorite' human. "You've mentioned these brothers of yours before. They can't possibly be any more troublesome than Miko."

Michelle shrugged and propped her feet up on the table, relaxing into the couch. "Well, they don't go running into giant robot battles but they do have their share of… faults." She took her glasses off to rub the bridge of her nose. "They're about Jack's and Miko's ages, which mean they're in the rebellious phase and the divorce certainly hasn't helped."

"The rebellious phase?" Ratchet queried, turning fully from his work.

"Yeah, basically it's when a human goes through puberty and decides that they know everything and that they can make their own decisions, despite how stupid those decisions may be."

"And did you ever go through this rebellious phase?"

"According to my mom, no," Michelle smirked slightly. "I'm the goody-two-shoes of my siblings."

Ratchet opened his mouth to ask what "goody-two-shoes" meant but was interrupted by the sound of multiple engines at the base entrance. The two turned to watch as Bumblebee and Arcee pulled into base, Jack and Raf in tow. The older boy, upon dismounting Arcee, immediately climbed up to the loft and began working on an assortment of homework assignments and college applications. Michelle poured the non-assembled puzzle pieces back into a cardboard box and carefully pushed the partially assembled puzzle to the far corner of the coffee table, allowing a large workspace for Jack and, now, Raf.

"How was school, guys?" the college student asked as Raf pulled out a heavy history textbook and thunked it on the table.

Raf smiled up at her, "Great, I got a 100 on my math test."

Jack moaned and glared down at his trigonometry assignment. "Not so good, here. My math teacher assigned me extra trig homework because I keep falling asleep in class… But I have no idea how to do any of it."

Ratchet leaned over to look at the offending assignment. "I could help you, Jack."

Jack looked skeptically up at the medic. "No offense, Ratchet, but the last time you helped me with schoolwork, an entire hallway was destroyed and several people are now in therapy for fear of machines."

Michelle laughed as Ratchet came as close to pouting as he would ever allow himself. She came to sit down next to Jack and looked over his paper. "I'd be happy to help, Jack. But put some more faith in Ratchet: math _is_ the same everywhere."

* * *

Optimus came in a few hours later to find the three humans all quietly at work around the human coffee table. Jack had progressed from homework to applications, allowing Michelle to begin working on her hydraulics project. She typed quietly at her laptop and eyes flitting around the screen. Raf was still reading out of his large history textbook, though his head bobbed every few minutes. Arcee and Bumblebee had long since gone out on patrol.

The Autobot leader smiled approvingly at the human study group and stepped quietly over to Ratchet, hoping not to disturb them. The medic looked unusually happy, most likely due to the unusual silence in the base. Ratchet didn't speak at all, only pulling up different data charts and status reports on the monitors. As Optimus silently read through the reports, a small thunk was heard from the small group of humans.

Michelle chuckled and softly crawled over to Raf. The young boy had finally fallen asleep and his head had fallen onto his open textbook. Optimus and Ratchet watched as she picked up the young boy and moved him from where he sat on the floor to the couch, laying him down gently. Then, she turned to Jack and lightly poked his head, for he had dozed off as well. Although his head had remained propped up in one hand while the other still held a pen, poised on a college application.

"W-what?" he stammered drowsily, looking around with half-lidded eyes. Michelle pointed to the half-finished application and he nodded with a yawn.

Optimus spoke quietly, "Michelle, where is Miko?"

The young woman blinked up at him for a moment before looking at the time on her phone. "Detention?"

Bulkhead arrived on base at that moment, transforming and walking over to the group with a frown on his face. "Miko won't be here for a few days."

Optimus turned to the former Wrecker, a frown on his faceplate. "Why is that?"

The large green mech grimaced, "Her parents back in Tokyo found out about her bad behavior and grades. So Miko's now confined to school and her host parents' home until the end of next week."

"Understood," Optimus nodded, "continue discreet surveillance of her school and home."

Bulkhead nodded before heading further into base to hit the energon stores. Ratchet and Michelle shared a look behind Optimus' back before returning to their work. They had taken casual bets on how long it would take for the younger girl to get into trouble with her parents.

"You owe me one full wash and wax," Ratchet murmured, a triumphant look on his faceplate. Michelle just sighed and buried herself in her hydraulics notes.

* * *

Miko smiled as she snapped pictures with her phone. "Oh, it's great to be back," she laughed.

Bulkhead punched away a Vehicon as he stood before the human protectively. He glanced down at her for a moment, "Didn't you learn _anything_ from being grounded for a week?"

The young Asian simply rolled her eyes, "Only how boring my life could be if I hadn't met the Autobots."

The Wrecker sighed and whipped out his blaster, shooting down some Vehicon seekers as they swooped in. Arcee and Optimus fought several yards away, surrounded by their own groups of cons. Miko continued to excitedly take pictures as Bulkhead tore through the never-ending opponents. Arcee had been scouting a possible energon deposit when several Decepticons had ambushed her. Bulkhead and Optimus had arrived as backup, leaving Bumblebee and Ratchet at base as Bee had lost his T-cog a few days before.

"Dude," Miko exclaimed, "I don't understand why you guys don't let me come along more often. This is totally awesome!"

Bulkhead turned to face his charge almost angrily in an opening between the attacks. "Miko, don't you understand? This is a war, not some tourist attraction! Anyone one of us, me, you, could be killed at any moment."

The last part he said almost desperately and Miko seemed startled by his outburst. The large mech heard a blaster charging from behind him and he swung his wrecking ball around to take out the Vehicon that had snuck up behind him. He gritted his mechanical teeth as he saw Breakdown bearing down on him. He dug his pedes into the ground as the large Decepticon slammed into him. Miko screamed in surprise and dove out of the way as the mechs grappled with each other. Bulkhead took a chance opening to throw Breakdown away from him.

"Michelle is doing a lousy job at babysitting," the Wrecker grumbled as he tried to contact base for a groundbridge. But no answer came from base and he glanced worriedly at Optimus, who somehow caught his glance in the chaos.

"I didn't even see Michelle at base today," Miko pointed out from behind a boulder.

Bulkhead grunted as Breakdown lunged at him. He grunted slightly in response, "Apparently she's spending the weekend with her boyfriend." The mech couldn't explain any further as Breakdown threw him across the battlefield.

* * *

Michelle parked Bluestreak neatly in front of her apartment. She grabbed her purse and climbed out of the car as her boyfriend grabbed the box of leftovers from dinner. "I am so stuffed, right now."

"You barely ate anything!" her boyfriend, Nick, laughed.

She poked him in response, "Only compared to you. Besides, I'll be hungry again in an hour."

The young woman began to pull out her apartment keys as they neared the entrance but stopped as a pair of flashing headlights from across the parking lot caught her attention. She furrowed her brow as she recognized a red semi with a familiar decal on the grill. The truck flashed its lights again and she looked back and forth between the apartment and the truck, worried.

"Michelle?" Nick queried as he waited for her to unlock the door. He looked back at the semi, a confused frown on his face.

Michelle handed him the keys and pointed towards the door. "You go in… I'll be up in a minute."

With that, she strode away from the apartment and across the parking lot but Nick remained standing outside the apartment building door. As she came closer to the semi, the woman glanced around nervously, looking for any passersby who might overhear anything unnecessary.

"Optimus?" she asked, stepping up to the truck. "What are you doing? I told you I'm not going to base this weekend…"

In response, the semi's passenger side door opened and remained open expectantly.

Michelle crossed her arms and frowned. "Optimus, no, I can't go with you right now. Is something wrong?"

No response came from the semi and the college student began to get suspicious. Optimus had never had any problem with speaking to her in the parking lot before, even with her outside the cab. Stepping back slowly, Michelle eyed the semi cautiously. Something was definitely wrong. Pulling her phone from her purse, she turned her back on the semi and began to walk briskly back to the apartment. Her heart froze in her chest when she saw Nick shout and run towards her.

Michelle only had time to speed dial a specific number before a hand clamped a cloth over her mouth and her phone was smacked away. She tried to struggle but her senses quickly became fuzzy. The last thing she remembered before her world went black was being pulled into the cabin of the semi.

* * *

**Dun, dun, dun... I hope this makes up for the longer wait. Please let me know what you think by reviewing. More reviews attract more readers. Also, after watching "Tunnel Vision", I have an idea for a Transformers Prime - TMNT crossover. Let me know if you'd be interested in reading something like that. Until the next chapter! Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! Here is Chapter 6. I don't own anything but my OCs. So it's starting to get a little intense. I hope I'm not screwing up the Prime timeline too much. I wanted this to happen in the middle of Operation Bumblebee. I know that those episodes make it seem like the events happened all in one or two days but I figured that I would make it seem like it actually took awhile for Bumblebee to get his T-cog back. Because in real life, the government satellites wouldn't just immediately and conveniently find the MECH base right after they took Bumblebee's T-cog. Anyway, here is Chapter 6. Please enjoy! Sincerely, madlibs44.**

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

Nick stumbled to a stop as he neared the edge of the parking lot and watched the semi disappear around the corner with his unconscious girlfriend inside. His heart ached painfully as he despaired over the fact that he may never see her again. A quiet sound came from his right and he barely heard it over the sound of his pounding heart. Finally looking away from where he had last seen the truck, Nick saw Michelle's cell phone lying on the ground, beat up but still functional. And it had an active call.

The young man picked up the cell phone and stared at the strange number displayed before putting it to his ear.

"-Don't tell me to calm down! She contacted the emergency frequency but hasn't responded!"

Beeping was heard in the background.

"What in Primus' name is 'butt-dialing'?"

Nick spoke into the phone, his voice hoarse and shaky, "Hello?..."

A pause was heard on the other end before a voice answered, "Who is this? Where is Michelle?"

Nick bit his lip before answering rather angrily, "Michelle is gone."

Frantic beeping was heard and the voice told it to be quiet. "What do you mean she's gone?" The voice asked in a soft, but gritted tone.

"Someone took her."

"Stay where you are," the voice immediately responded. Without any further explanation, the phone call was ended. Nick stared at the phone in confusion and dismay.

Suddenly, a swirling green vortex appeared mere feet from his position. He stared at it and an ambulance appeared. It drove right up next to the college student and swung open its passenger side door. No one was sitting in the driver's seat. The voice from the phone emanated from the emergency vehicle before him, "Get in."

Nick hesitated for a moment. He glanced back towards the direction the truck had gone, then down at Michelle's phone, and back up at the ambulance. Coming to a decision, he gripped the phone tightly and climbed quickly into the ambulance. The passenger door shut behind him before the vehicle drove itself back into the portal.

* * *

Bulkhead absentmindedly kicked an offlined Vehicon. The battle had ended before the Autobots in the field had been able to contact base for a groundbridge. Arcee sat on a nearby boulder, her arm leaking energon. Knockout had gotten a lucky hit on her. Optimus stood silently off to the side as he awaited any response from base. The large Wrecker looked down at Miko, who had called Jack back at base but had only gotten his voicemail. To say they were all worried was an understatement.

"Do you think it might be scraplets again?" Miko suggested from where she sat next to Bulkhead's foot.

Arcee glanced at the human and shook her head. "We made sure the base was entirely clear of the blasted pests after last time."

"And we haven't taken in any unknown 'packages' since then," Bulkhead added. Miko shrugged and pulled her legs up to her chest, her worry about the others at base beginning to overtake her boredom of waiting.

All four heads snapped up at the sound of the comlink to base opening. There was a moment of silence before Bumblebee's beeping drifted over the comm. Miko sighed with frustration at not being able to understand. Optimus nodded gravely as Bumblebee finished his report. "Open the groundbridge at our coordinates immediately."

Miko stood up and climbed onto Bulkhead's proffered servo. She glanced up at her guardian and asked quietly, "What happened?"

Bulkhead waited beside Arcee for the groundbridge. He considered his answer before saying, "Something happened to Michelle."

Miko couldn't ask anything further as the groundbridge opened before the group. Optimus immediately strode through, an odd occurrence since the leader usually only entered after his troops. Arcee and Bulkhead shared a glance before following. Miko blinked as her eyes adjusted from the outdoor sunlight to the dimmer base interior. When she could see properly again, her eyes were immediately drawn to the frazzled-looking new human standing before Ratchet and Optimus. Once Bulkhead had placed her down on the loft, Miko ran over to Jack. The teenager was watching the scene quietly but obvious fear could be seen on his face.

"What happened?" Miko asked again, but this time to Jack. "They vaguely told me that 'something happened to Michelle'."

Jack glanced down at young girl and quietly explained, "Michelle was kidnapped by people driving a truck that looked like Optimus' vehicle form, at least according to her boyfriend."

The young Asian girl gripped the railing tightly. She watched as the boyfriend ran his hands through his unruly black hair, a desperate look in his eyes. He was obviously not taking this well at all. Ratchet seemed about ready to squash something and the girl decided that it would be best to stay far away from the medic for the time being. Arcee and Bumblebee stood off to the side as Optimus tried to calm the young man currently pacing the base floor. Miko raised an eyebrow upon noticing the absence of Bulkhead.

The college student finally let out a frustrated groan and turned on his heel before stalking over to the inactive groundbridge. "Open this up! I need to go find Michelle!"

Optimus began to respond but was beaten to it by an angry medic, "And where to you plan on finding her? MECH's hideouts are both heavily fortified and well-hidden. Why do you think your government has been unable to find them? Even we have been unable to determine their location since Bumblebee's T-cog was stolen!"

Bee let out a string of sad beeps and Arcee put a reassuring servo on his shoulder. Optimus looked critically at the medic. The tense group turned as one to look at the base entrance as the roar of an engine was heard. Bulkhead pulled quickly into the main hangar and opened his door for Raf to climb out. The young boy looked confused and worried but climbed up to human loft silently. Miko quickly explained the situation to the youngest of the human group.

Jack chose to speak up as a tense silence fell over the base, "MECH isn't going to just disappear with Michelle. She isn't their target."

Arcee looked at her partner and placed her servos on her hips. "What are you getting at?"

"MECH wants an Autobot. And they obviously plan to use Michelle as bait," he began slowly. He cringed away from the intense look Nick was directing toward him. "So they're going to make sure an Autobot has a way of finding them."

Arcee nodded, "Of course, they left us with a package so that we could find your mom and their hideout."

Nick clenched his hand around a cell phone in his hand, "But they didn't leave any sort of package."

Ratchet's optics blinked quickly in realization before he pointed to the phone in his hand. "_That_ is their package."

Optimus nodded slowly and spoke in a grave voice, "We must wait for MECH to make the first move. For the time being, I believe that our human friends should remain in the safety of our base, lest MECH try to obtain more hostages. Agent Fowler will contact your families with a reasonable cover story."

With that said, the Autobot leader disappeared into the depths of the base to analyze the situation. Ratchet growled quietly in frustration before moving to fiddle with the monitors. Nick's shoulders slumped and he looked down at the phone in his hand, looking quite dejected. He slowly climbed the steps up to the loft and the other humans watched him warily. Jack was the first to move, stepping over to the coffee table and sitting on the floor. He picked up a puzzle piece from a pile on the table, staring at it quite intently. Miko and Raf looked uncomfortably at the two older humans and seemed quite relieved when Bulkhead and Bumblebee offered to play video games with them. Arcee looked sadly at the young man sitting on the couch, his head in his hands. She could understand how he felt, losing a partner. She just hoped that his partner wouldn't end up like hers had.

For the next several hours, Arcee halfheartedly helped Jack build one of Michelle's puzzles. Nick simply stared at the phone as it sat still and silent on the table. Raf and Miko had retired from video games and were now sitting quietly on the couch. Raf had fallen into a restless sleep, his head resting gently on Miko's shoulder. The femme had to give some credit to Miko; the girl had not spoken a word since Optimus had left the main hangar. Instead, she had been respectfully silent and acted quite maturely despite losing to Raf in every video game they played. Ratchet had abandoned the monitors and moved into the medbay, where loud banging could occasionally be heard.

Everyone in the main hangar jumped as a ringing sound suddenly began playing. They stared at the phone as it lit up and moved with each vibrating ring. Arcee touched a digit to her helm.

"Optimus, they've made contact."

* * *

Her hands were painfully numb and something dug into her wrists just as painfully. Michelle groggily opened her eyes. The room around her was poorly lit, that much she could tell with her blurry vision. She tried to move her arms and get circulation back into her hands, but her arms were bound behind her. She realized slowly that she was sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair. Shaking her head slightly in an effort to clear it, the young woman tried to recollect what had happened.

Optimus had been waiting at her apartment. No, not Optimus. A truck that had looked like Optimus. Someone had attacked her from behind. She should have never turned her back on that suspicious truck. 'Nick must be freaking out,' she thought. As her eyes finally began to focus, she was startled to find a strange man smiling at her from where he leaned against the wall in front of her.

"So you're finally awake," he chuckled. Michelle's heart began to race at the evil look in his eyes. She absently noted a scar running down the side of his face. "My name is Silas. It's nice to finally meet you in person, Michelle White, human charge of Optimus Prime."

Michelle watched the man as he began to circle her, fear causing her breathing to become short and quick. He stopped off to her right and folded his hand behind his back as he waited for her to respond. She did not.

"You're certainly not as talkative as Mr. Darby," he mused and moved to stand in front of her again. "No need to be shy, Miss White. No harm will come to you as long as you cooperate."

Michelle was still too frightened to speak, her heart pounding so hard that she feared it would burst out of her chest. She assumed that her face must have been ghost white because the man laughed as he eyed her. He began to circle her again, making her ungodly nervous.

"I'm sure the Autobots have already informed you about myself and MECH," Silas smirked as Michelle gave a very slight and shaky nod. "We just desire access to their technology. It would make your life significantly less painful if you were to divulge the location of the Autobot base."

Michelle's eyes widened at his threat and she began to shake slightly. Silas smirked; this woman would be very easy to crack. At that very moment, his soldiers were making contact with the Autobots. MECH would lure Optimus Prime to their location with their hostage as bait, using the threat of her death as insurance that only the Autobot leader would arrive. Although Prime would be prize enough for MECH, there was no reason that they couldn't spring a surprise attack on the Autobot base once Michelle surrendered the information. It would be a failsafe venture as they would definitely obtain Optimus Prime, the entire Autobot team, or both.

Silas smirked down at the frightened college student. It was a pity she wouldn't be able to finish her degree. But witnesses were unnecessary loose ends, as Jack Darby had witlessly proven. The scarred man stopped in front of his hostage after letting his threat sink in.

"So," Silas asked, looking down at the young woman, "where is the Autobot base?"

He frowned as the girl shook her head frantically, her blonde hair swinging slightly about her face. She kept her mouth firmly shut. He slowly stepped right up to the woman and she froze, stiffening against the chair. Silas gave her a hard stare for a moment before walking around behind her. He gently fingered a strand of her hair as he stood behind her. Leaning over, he spoke into her ear.

"Care to change your answer?"

He growled, frustrated, when the girl shook her head again. He stepped angrily back in front of her. He took a moment to allow a tense silence to fall between them before swiftly kicking the chair over. Michelle and the chair landed with a thud and a slight crack as the chair landed on her hands. The back of her head smacked against the concrete floor. She cried out in pain as tears sprung up in her eyes. Silas felt great satisfaction at seeing the utter terror in her eyes. Quietly, he stepped over to stand next to her head and he looked down at her.

"I'll ask you again," he sneered. "Where is the Autobot base?"

* * *

**Ouch, that's gotta hurt. Please read and review! Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, sorry for the long wait but I suck at writing action scenes so this was just a bitch to write. Also, my engineering internship has kept me to worn out to even think about writing. Anyway, I don't own anything. Sincerely, madlibs44.**

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

"Optimus, there is no way I'm allowing you to surrender yourself to MECH."

Ratchet planted himself firmly between Optimus Prime and the yet-to-be-opened groundbridge. The Autobot leader sighed at the stubbornness of the old medic. MECH had given explicit instruction that Optimus alone would be allowed to arrive at the MECH base. They had provided rendezvous coordinates, from which a MECH escort would bring him the rest of the way to the base. If and only if Optimus Prime surrendered to MECH at their base, Michelle would be released. However, Arcee and Jack had both voiced their doubts on the possibility of MECH actually releasing their hostage.

Optimus looked solemnly down at Ratchet and responded gravely, "If Michelle is to have any chance of survival, I must follow MECH's instructions. As she is my charge, this is my responsibility."

"But boss," Bulkhead started, "why can't we just all go in and bust her out of there? There's no way MECH can stand a chance against all of us."

Miko jumped up, "Yea, haven't you seen any movies? The bad guys _never_ hold up there end of the deal!"

Jack shook his head but silently agreed with Miko's logic. He glanced back at Nick, who had been extremely silent since MECH had called. He hesitantly placed a hand on the older man's shoulder, "What do you think?"

Nick considered for a moment. He looked at Jack before turning his dark eyes to Optimus. "I agree that Optimus should be the only bot to go."

"What? Why?" Ratchet nearly yelled in frustration, throwing his hand in the air. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee exchanged nervous glances.

"But," Nick continued, throwing a glance to Ratchet, "I'm going with him."

Arcee raised an optic ridge at the human, "How does that make the situation any better?"

"It doesn't," Ratchet countered. He crossed his arms and narrowed his optics at the college boy. "It will simply force Optimus to worry about yet another human and will ultimately cause more problems in this rescue mission."

"Dude!" Miko jumped up in Nick's defense. She smiled confidently and made sword play motions. "He's gotta save his girl!"

Optimus turned to the boyfriend of his charge. "Are you certain that you wish to join me, Nicholas? After all, your actions may jeopardize Michelle's safety."

Nick looked up at the large mech and nodded. "I love her. I would do anything to make sure she's safe."

The two stared intensely at each other for several moments before Optimus commanded, "Ratchet, open the groundbridge to the provided coordinates."

* * *

Silas snarled at the frustratingly tight-lipped woman before him. She now sported an impressive black eye, several broken ribs, three broken fingers, and many dark bruises but she still refused to say a word. The only assurance that the pain was affecting her was the fact that she screamed and cried at every punch, kick, etc. The MECH leader hadn't thought that he would need any sort of torture devices, high tech or otherwise, in order to make this girl crack. But now he was seriously considering it.

He roughly kicked at her broken ankle, which she had injured in a failed escape attempt. She screamed in pain again but he didn't even smirk in satisfaction. This woman was beginning to seriously get on his nerves. He paused mid-kick as the door opened behind him and a soldier poked his head in.

"Sir, Optimus Prime has arrived at the rendezvous point. The escort team is leading him here now."

"Finally," Silas growled, abandoning his prisoner to follow the soldier into the command center. After the door closed, he turned to the guard standing outside the room. "Once we have Prime secured, you have my permission to terminate her."

Silas barely waited for the guard to nod in confirmation before walking swiftly towards the command center. From there, he would monitor Optimus' arrival before going to meet the Autobot leader in the main hangar bay. He was disappointed that he wouldn't have the opportunity to presently storm the Autobot base, but he knew that that opportunity would come again in time. His soldiers saluted him as he passed, a custom he had continued in MECH from his former days in the U.S. military.

Nick sat silently in Optimus Prime's passenger seat, the tinted windows hiding him from the MECH soldiers escorting them. The two had discovered with little surprise that upon arriving at the rendezvous point their communicators (phone and comlink) had stopped working. Optimus drove silently and smoothly between the escort vehicles, seeming to be quite calm despite the gravity of the situation. Nick had to admire the Autobot leader as he had to grip his hands to simply control his anger. As the group rounded a bend, the young man saw what, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be an abandoned grain elevator facility.

A concealed door opened silently as the convoy approached and Optimus slowed to a very cautious crawl. He stopped just before the opening, only continuing inward after a commanding honk from one of the rear guard vehicles. As the large truck rolled in, Nick couldn't help but snarl at the smirk on the only unmasked man's face.

"Silas," Optimus gravely greeted the man. Both the bot and the man hiding in his cab watched the MECH soldiers around them intently.

"Optimus Prime," Silas nodded. The man's eyes briefly flickered to look behind the semi. In response, the soldiers at the door moved to close it. "Why not transform? I'm sure you're quite eager to stretch your legs before we remove them."

"MECH will be doing no such thing this day," the last Prime announced before transforming. The surrounding soldiers tensed and immediately aimed their weapons at the transforming robot. In the chaos, Nick slipped out of Optimus' cab and quickly disappeared from sight. Optimus avoided watching the young man's departure so as to not alert Silas and his men to his stowaway. The Autobot leader gave his full attention to the MECH leader once Nick had slipped out of the room. "Now, release your hostage."

"Miss White is being released as we speak," Silas lied with a fake smirk up at the mech. He gritted his teeth at the thought of the stubborn woman. He discreetly pressed a button on his radio, sending a signal to his soldier guarding that particular prisoner. He knew Optimus would only continue to cooperate if he actually saw the woman released but he was certain that he would be able to detain the robot without the use of his hostage. "But you shouldn't be concerned about her."

With that vocal signal, the MECH soldiers in the room aimed and charged their weapons. Tiny laser dots covered Optimus Prime's form and the mech narrowed his optics as he fell into a defensive stance.

Nick pressed himself to the wall as several MECH soldiers patrolled around the corner. He had managed to sneak by several patrols, only barely it should be noted, but he had yet to find Michelle. The young man had hoped to overhear anything that might point him in the right direction but the soldiers were unnervingly silent. They were certainly well disciplined, Nick realized with a grimace.

As the soldiers rounded another corner and out of sight, Nick darted out into the hallway and jogged silently in the other direction. He came upon another hallway junction and had to grab a door handle to stop himself from skidding out into the view of another soldier in the adjoining hallway. He silently cursed at the amount of the skilled men that Silas was able to recruit to his cause. He was about to turn back but stiffened at the sound of a gun charging. Then, a door opened and clicked shut.

Without care of being seen, Nick ran around the corner and quickly opened the nearest door. A soldier shouted at him from the hall but he simply dove into the room, tackling the man pointing a gun at his girlfriend to the ground. Nick kicked himself for not bringing any sort of weapon with him as he grappled on the floor with the soldier.

"Let go!" Nick yelled, as he elbowed the man in the face while yanking the gun from the man's hands and kicking him away. The soldier rolled away and held his hands up in a sign of surrender. Nick held up the bulky gun awkwardly, obviously not used to holding this odd rifle's shape. The college boy slowly backed up towards his girlfriend. He took a moment to steal a glance at her. She was unconscious and in horrible condition. He hoped her injuries weren't actually as bad as they looked.

"Silas, the hostage has been compromised."

Nick's head shot back to look at the soldier who was holding a small radio in his hand. On instinct, his finger squeezed the trigger of the gun. With a loud bang, the gun fired and the young man fell backwards from the sudden and unexpectedly high force.

* * *

Silas and Optimus Prime stared at each other intensely, each waiting for the other to make a move. Optimus had refused to stand down until he saw that Michelle had been released. The Autobot leader had known from the beginning that Silas would never release his hostage but also knew that he had to buy time for Nick to locate the girl. His optics flickered around at the soldiers surrounding him and his processor calculated a strategy should a fight inevitably break out. He paused as static emitted from the radio at Silas' hip.

"Silas, the hostage has been compromised."

The terrorist leader visibly stiffened and swore. Optimus took this chance to pull out his blaster and blow apart the exterior wall, effectively obscuring the room with dust and debris. The Cybertronian used his heat vision to seek out all of the human soldiers, disable their weapons, and swiftly incapacitate them. With a flick of his servo, three MECH soldiers slammed into a nearby wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Optimus despised harming humans but, as with the Decepticons, there were some situations where force was absolutely necessary.

As the dust finally began to settle and he switched his optics back to light sensory mode, he realized that Silas was no longer in the room.

* * *

Nick tried not to look at the dead MECH soldier as he pulled the body to one corner of the room. The strange gun had burnt his right shoulder, neck, and mask, revealing one side of the man's face. With a grimace, Nick pulled back the rest of the mask and closed the dead man's eyes. He felt as though he was about to vomit as he stood up. He could hear MECH soldiers pounding on the locked door but he ignored them, walking slowly over to Michelle.

Leaning down, he gently cupped her face in his hands and urgently tried to wake her. "Michelle. Come on, sweetie. I need you to wake up."

At first she didn't respond and the young man began to worry that something was seriously wrong. But after a few moments her eyes fluttered open and he frowned as her eyes very slowly focused on him. She blinked several times at him and he gently touched his forehead to hers, trying to smile.

"N… Nick?"

"Yes, it's me," Nick responded quickly, running a hand through her hair. Moving behind her to untie her hands he continued, "I'm going to get you out of here."

"Oh, really? And who might you be?" The question was quickly followed by the obvious sound of a charging rifle and Nick froze. He felt Michelle's arms stiffen as he knelt behind her chair. "Come out and introduce yourself. Now."

Slowly and cautiously, Nick rose from behind the chair, his hands raised in surrender. He glanced down at his girlfriend and noted with anger that she seemed to be absolutely terrified of the scarred man before them. Silas stood in the open doorway with a large high-tech rifle in his hands and an angry frown on his face. Nick chose not to answer the man.

This only seemed to anger Silas even further and he leveled the rifle at the young man's chest. "I think you'll find that being silent will work as well for you as it did for that woman behind you."

The MECH leader took aim at the college boy's chest and moved to pull the trigger. Michelle screamed.

Silas was knocked over, landing at Nick's feet as the wall behind him exploded. The ceiling shook dangerously before being lifted away from the room by two large metal servos to reveal the towering form of Optimus Prime. The Autobot leader stood among the ruins of the MECH base and he glowered down at the terrorist leader. Nick took the chance to swipe a knife off of the stunned man's belt and slice apart Michelle's bonds. As the dust began to settle, the young man picked up his girlfriend and gently placed her in Optimus' waiting servo. Before climbing up, Nick took a moment to turn back to the recovering Silas.

"I'm her boyfriend, you asshole."

And with that, Nick delivered a firm kick to the man's head.

* * *

Ratchet's fingers twitched over the groundbridge controls in anticipation. June Darby paced the floor just in front of the groundbridge, a stretcher ready and waiting nearby. The three human children waited, tensely seated on the couch after a stern command from the nurse. Arcee's digits twitched with each small sound as they all waited for any news from Prime. After Optimus and Nicholas had left, those remaining in the base had been left to wait in an intense silence that was only broken by the arrival of Jack's mom. The waiting was becoming so unbearable that Arcee was nearly tempted to open up the groundbridge herself and jump into what would be an imminent battle with MECH.

The entire base population jumped to their feet or pedes as Optimus' voice over the comlink finally broke the silence. "Ratchet, open the groundbridge at my current coordinates. Then, contact Nurse Darby. Michelle is in need of medical attention."

"I'm already here, Optimus," June responded as Ratchet quickly fumbled to open the groundbridge, despite having been poised to open it for hours. The three kids and their corresponding Bot guardians ran over to the groundbridge as it opened and stared into the vortex expectantly.

The leader of the Autobots stepped through the groundbridge, Nick and Michelle in hand. Stepping up to an expectant June, Optimus knelt down and allowed Nick to climb off his servo. June motioned for Jack to come over and together he and Nick gently transferred Michelle from Optimus' hand to the stretcher. As soon as the young woman was safely on the stretcher, the nurse quickly wheeled her into the medbay, followed quickly by Ratchet. Nick moved to follow them as well but he was stopped by one of Optimus' gentle digits on his shoulder.

The Prime smiled wearily down at the young man, "She is in fine hands. You should get some rest yourself."

The college student seemed about to argue but decided otherwise after seeing Jack knowingly shake his head at him. Nick realized just how exhausted he was as he climbed the presently very long stairs to the human loft, his adrenaline rush now spent. With a groan, he flopped down on the couch and closed his eyes, though he would spend the next several hours awake waiting for news from the medbay.

* * *

**Bonus Interlude: I Must Be Dreaming**

((This is set before Michelle's kidnapping by MECH.))

Ratchet walked into the main hangar, data pad in hand. His optics scanned over the status reports quickly, frowning slightly at Bulkhead's normal-for-him yet immense energon consumption rate. He stopped at the monitors and happened to briefly focus his optics on the human loft. The medic stared in confusion at the human currently still on the couch, long after the other humans had left. As it was currently 3AM in her time zone, Michelle was lying in a rather awkward position, fast asleep on the couch. A notebook resting open on her chest rose and fell as she breathed slowly. Several other notebooks and papers were strewn about on the floor and couch surrounding the sleeping young woman.

Ratchet sighed and set down his data pad. He had thought the humans had left hours ago. Why was she still here? He was about the comm Optimus, who was supposed to be her ride home, when he heard a soft voice. He looked down at the human, who was now staring up at him with half-lidded eyes.

"Why did you… why did…" she stumbled over her words, seeming to be quite confused about something that he had apparently done. The medic raised an optic ridge at her. After several more slurred attempts to form a sentence, Michelle finally spoke coherently. "Why did you turn the fan off?"

"I beg your pardon?"

The young woman before him continued to grumble about how he had apparently turned the fan off and that she was still hot. Quickly, he used his scanners to read her core temperature but it was at a normal level. In fact, his sensors could detect nothing physically wrong with her. Quietly, Ratchet commed for Optimus but received no answer, causing the medic to growl in frustration. Optimus should have taken her home hours ago! The other Autobots were in recharge, leaving him to be the only one to deal with the human's strange behavior.

There was a soft thud as the notebook fell off of the girl's chest when she moved to sit up. Slowly, she blinked down at the offending notebook for several minutes and Ratchet began to wonder if she had spontanteously become mentally handicapped, as the humans called it. But a quick search through the human internet told him that such a condition was developed at birth and thus, could not be a possible answer to her condition now. Finally, the college student leaned over, reaching down to retrieve the notebook.

A louder thud sounded through the main hangar as the human quickly lost her balance and fell off of the couch. Ratchet winced and moved closer to inspect her for injuries. But he stopped as she slowly pulled herself back onto the couch, eyes now closed. Curling up into a ball and facing into the couch, the human left the notebook abandoned on the floor and seemingly fell back to sleep.

* * *

**So that's chapter 7 plus a bonus interlude since I made you wait. Anyway, I was wondering if anybody who is good at drawing would want to draw something out of this fanfic. Not necessarily my OCs Nick and Michelle, but I'd like to see a "scene" illustrated. If anyone's interested, let me know. Bye!  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! I'm going to warn you all now that I have a report and presentation due for my engineering summer internship due next week, the GRE to study for in a couple weeks, and marching band music to practice (that I should have been practicing all summer since I'm a section leader) so I will be really busy these next few weeks. Therefore, I probably won't be able to update until school starts. Once I get settled into a routine at school, I should hopefully be able to update more frequently, barring any unforeseen writer's block. Anyway, here is chapter 8. Sincerely, madlibs44.  
**

**Chapter 8:**

_Click-click. Step. Click-click. Step._

Ratchet grumbled and turned to scowl at the human currently hobbling across the human loft on her crutches. The young woman seemed quite determined to ignore the "stay on the couch" command from both himself and Nurse Darby.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked sarcastically, placing his servos on his hips as he narrowed his optics at her.

Michelle let out an exasperated sigh. She was starting to get annoyed with the Autobot medic. "I'm just going to the bathroom, Ratchet."

She moaned in embarrassment as Ratchet scooped her up without hesitation, his optics instantly softening at her response in a way that made her almost gag. He had become strangely overprotective since her return from MECH, even more so than her own boyfriend. As the medic strode over towards the human lavatory, he waved a digit in front of her face in scolding, "You know you shouldn't be walking around. If you need assistance, you just need to ask."

For what seemed like the umpteenth time, Michelle responded, "I don't need assistance, Ratchet. That's what crutches are made for."

The college girl rolled her eyes as Ratchet 'tsked' her and began to lecture her about her injuries. She just nodded her head as the medic set her down in front of the bathroom door, waving him off as she entered. Ratchet grumbled as she took significantly longer than normal to push open the door and maneuver her crutches into the bathroom. He stood outside the door, waiting for the young woman to finish her business so that he could get back to his. He absently tapped a pede on the floor as he checked his internal chronometer.

"Ratchet, what are you doing?"

June Darby looked up expectantly at the Autobot medic currently placing the human bathroom under siege. The medic in question blinked his optics down at the nurse.

"I am assisting my… our patient," he answered simply.

June rubbed her temples in frustration. "She's not a baby, doctor. You don't need to constantly monitor her." When Ratchet opened his mouth to respond, June cut him off, "Ah ah. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

A shout of, "Thank you, Mrs. Darby!" was heard from inside the bathroom.

* * *

Optimus narrowed his optics at the monitor in his own private quarters. "Agent Fowler, are you certain that a thorough search of the premises was conducted?"

The visage of the black man on the screen sighed. "Yes, Prime. We searched the entire grain elevator, or at least what was left of it once you were done, thank you very much. Don't get me wrong, you did a fine job rescuing the young lady. But did you have to destroy the ENTIRE base?"

"Under the circumstances, quick action was required in order to ensure Nicholas and Michelle's safety," Optimus answered. A message appeared at the side of the screen indicating that Ratchet had submitted his latest report on Michelle's condition. "If I had done anything other than what I had, Silas may have killed them both."

Agent Fowler raised an eyebrow at the large mech, "I still question your decision to bring that boy with you."

"If it had not been for his actions," Prime said solemnly, a deep frown defining his face plate, "Michelle would have been killed before I even had a chance to reach her."

"Yes, yes, I know," Fowler grumbled. He pointed a stern finger at the Autobot leader, "But let me know the next time you willingly bring a human civilian into an enemy trap. Or any form of danger in that case."

"Of course."

With that, the man nodded and the video communication was promptly cut off. Optimus Prime stood silently for a moment, thinking back on the night of the rescue, before opening Ratchet's report. He chuckled ever so slightly upon seeing that Nurse Darby had written the report and noted that she had banned Ratchet from "overreacting like a new mother." As he continued reading, the frown returned to his face and he began to regret bringing the college girl back to base that fateful night on the highway. A soft knock on his door pulled the leader out of his thoughts.

Optimus opened the door and gave a small smile to the young man before him. "Hello, Jack."

The teenage boy grinned up at him sheepishly and held up a notebook covered in Cybertronian script. "I'm stuck. Would you mind explaining the use of this symbol in the sentence structure again?"

"Nerd!" Miko's shout sounded from down the hallway and Jack shot a glare at the young girl currently outside of Optimus' line of sight.

Optimus stepped to the side, allowing Jack to step into his office. After settling down at the large desk, the Prime looked over Jack's notebook before pulling up the document program on his monitor. "You see, Jack, this symbol was developed in the beginning centuries of the Golden Age…"

* * *

Miko stared at her character sheet. Bulkhead grumbled impatiently, his large fingers jiggling the large makeshift dice that Nick had helped them make. She analyzed the enormous grid board before her, the floor plan of a dungeon laid out with various metal sculptures designating their characters. Nick, the dungeon master, had told her from her previous roll that her character had seen the arm of a troll hiding around the next corner. Finally, she moved her character in order to get a good shot at the creature and rolled her 20-sided die.

"Dude! I just got a 20!" she exclaimed jumping up. Looking to Nick, she asked, "What does that do?"

Arcee rolled her optics at the girl. Nick laughed and explained, "That's a crit, which means you automatically deal it max damage… So, your archer takes a dive around the corner, taking the troll by surprise. In mid-air, she aims her bow and lodges an arrow into one of its eyes. It's bloodied."

"Sweet! Your turn, Bulk!"

Bulkhead was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement. He looked at Nick expectantly, "Would I be able to attack the wall and make it fall down on the troll?"

Nick just gave the large green Wrecker a skeptic look. Raf laughed, "But your character is a hobbit, Bulkhead."

"Yeah, so?"

"Were you even paying any attention when you made your character?" Arcee grumbled, impatient to attack with her elven rogue.

"Not really," Bulkhead shrugged. "Michelle made it for me."

A small snicker was heard from where Michelle was curled up on the couch "sleeping."

Bumblebee beeped a laugh.

"Wait, really?" Bulkhead frowned. "Why didn't anyone tell me I was playing something so tiny?"

"Anyway," Nick shook his head, "no, you cannot attack him through the wall. You have to spend a minor action to move around the wall."

Bulkhead pouted but moved his character piece adjacent to the opposite wall and into the troll's line of sight. He was about to proclaim an attack when Nick spoke again.

"A hidden Wall Shadow takes an attack of opportunity on you as you walk next to the wall; I got an 18 against your defense. Roll for your defense."

"What?" Bulkhead complained but rolled his die anyway. It landed on a 1. The entire group stared at the offending failure.

"Wow, Bulkhead," Miko whistled. "You need to watch your back."

The Wrecker frowned as he wrote down the damage on his data pad character sheet. "If this was a real battle, I wouldn't have been taken by surprise."

Miko laughed, "It would be so much fun if we could actually be our characters right now."

Arcee raised an optic ridge at the girl. "Really? Because I find this a lot more fun than being in an actual battle."

"Yeah, Miko," Raf nodded, as he watched Arcee take her turn. Her elf quickly killed off the troll. "You could actually die in a real battle. It's a lot safer to just pretend."

Nick raised his hand, "I, for one, agree with Miko. I would definitely prefer to go battling trolls for treasure than sit in class learning stuff I don't necessarily need."

"Nick," Michelle rolled over to look at her boyfriend, "you already have two swords and an expensive costume. What more do you want?"

Nick grinned up at her. "More swords."

"You're ridiculous," she sighed before swinging her legs off the couch. "Ratchet! Can you take me to McDonald's? I'm really craving French fries."

"You're a _big_ girl," the medic grumbled from his station, though he had spent most of the day watching the game intently rather than doing his own work. "You also have your own car."

Michelle jabbed at his arm with a crutch. "A car that I can't drive with my right ankle broken."

Ratchet huffed but gently picked up the woman and set her on the ground floor before transforming. As she carefully climbed in, the medic grumbled, "Fine but no eating inside my cab. I spent three hours getting ketchup off my seats after the last time someone ate food in my interior."

"I love you too, Ratchet!" Miko called as the ambulance drove out of the base. Turning back to the game, she mused, "It's weird. He's getting nicer but also grumpier at the same time."

"Are you sure?" Arcee laughed. "It seems to me like he's just nicer to Michelle but grumpier towards the rest of us."

Miko tilted her head to the side in thought before nodding, "Yeah, that makes more sense."

* * *

**And there is chapter 8. Just want to remind everyone that it would be really cool if someone did some sort of drawing for my fanfic. See you later!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yes, yes, I know I should have updated sooner. Whatever, I'm taking three design courses AND applying to several grad schools and fellowships. I have a legitimate excuse. Also, I've had writers block. Anyway, I hope this really long chapter makes up for the wait. Just so you know, I have no real plot in mind: I was planning on writing this episodically. The first seven chapters were to introduce my OC and I don't plan on having all of the following chapters focus on her. In fact, this one isn't intended to focus on her. I don't own anything. Enjoy! Sincerely, madlibs44.**

* * *

**Chapter 9:**

Michelle glared at her laptop, a barely-started report on the screen. Her eyes couldn't focus on the damn device as it swam back and forth across her vision. A small, orange bottle sat mockingly to one side of the laptop, declaring "MAY CAUSE DIZZINESS" in bold print. Standing up had already proven to be a futile gesture. The only reprieve from the situation was that the pain in her ribs had dulled to a slight ache. With a final, frustrated sigh, the young woman slammed the laptop shut and leaned back against the couch. A commotion from the base entrance drew her attention.

A purple witch leapt out of Bulkhead's alt mode with a loud cackle and waved a small, painted stick. A reluctant-looking Jack Skellington climbed off of Arcee. Last, a miniature Iron Man clambered out of Bumblebee, stopping to adjust his oversized helmet for a moment. Michelle started to chuckle but stopped when the action caused her head to swim even faster. With a moan, she finally gave in and laid down on the couch as Jack, dressed as the Pumpkin King himself, made his way up to the loft. Miko laughed as she chased Raf around with her wand, declaring that her magic trumps his technology.

Jack resisted the urge to pick at the makeup on his face as he sat down on the floor and turned on the TV. The channels were chock full of Halloween specials. Unfortunately, most of the decent horror films wouldn't begin playing until later in the night and thus, there were only the classic kid features and B-list horrors showing now. He glanced back at the young woman currently lying face down on the couch.

"Shouldn't you be at some college party by now?" he asked, absently flipping through channels.

"Orders from your mom," came the muffled reply and Jack chose not to question further.

"What in the Allspark is going on here?" Ratchet's annoyed voice came from the entrance to the med bay. The medic stood over the witch and Iron Man where they had collided and landed in a laughing heap on the floor.

As Arcee walked by him, heading into the medbay for a routine checkup, she answered, "Haven't you seen the human chrono-logs? Today is 'Halloween'." Ratchet's optics blinked as he swiftly accessed the information. He opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by an incoming com.

"Ratchet," Optimus Prime's deep baritone sounded throughout the main hanger. The medic in question moved over to the computer and ground bridge consoles. "Smokescreen and I have finished our reconnaissance mission and we require a groundbridge back to base."

With a flick of a switch, the groundbridge swirled to life, allowing the Autobot leader and rookie to stride through. Arcee rolled her optics and stepped into the med bay as Smokescreen went on excitedly about the simple recon. Ratchet followed the femme into to the med bay shortly after pausing for a moment to close the groundbridge and greet Optimus. Arcee eyed the examination table warily before hopping onto it, extending her servos for the preliminary phases of the tune-up. The door to med bay swished close behind Ratchet and the old medic grabbed some equipment off the work bench before stepping over to his least favorite patient. He could already see her inching her way towards the door.

"It will make both our lives easier if you actually sit still this time," he sighed as he began hooking up some sensors to her servos. She twitched slightly at each connection.

The blue femme grumbled slightly and fidgeted. "Is this really necessary, Ratchet? I can assure you that everything is working fine."

"It is my job to keep every Autobot in this base in the best condition possible," Ratchet began his usual spiel. "An under-maintained biomechanism can be just as dangerous as a Decepticon on the battle field."

Arcee laughed, and then frowned when Ratchet lightly smacked her servos as punishment for moving. "You try telling that to Megatron."

"I'm sure his medic would agree with me."

"Knock Out?" Arcee scoffed. "He cares more about his own finish than maintaining Megatron and his troops."

Ratchet just 'harrumphed' and continued working, moving from her servos to her pedes now. The two sat in relative silence as the medic worked, the only sounds being Ratchet's unintelligible mumblings and muffled noises from out in the main bay. Arcee glanced around the med bay idly and noted the presence of an unfinished report displayed on Ratchet's med bay computer. It detailed the improvements in a certain college student's injuries since the medic had last seen her a couple weeks prior. Arcee glanced down to where Ratchet currently had her leg opened up. She immediately looked away. Something about seeing her own insides made the femme uncomfortable.

"So where _has_ Michelle been recently?" she asked absently, not really expecting an answer. "She's missed out on a lot that's happened lately… Bulkhead's injury… Smokescreen… the Star Sabre…"

Ratchet shrugged slightly before moving to work on the back of her cranial unit, a procedure that made Arcee unduly nervous. "She has been busy with course work at the university and physical therapy with her doctor at home."

"Ah," Arcee nodded then winced as she received another smack from the medic. "Is that why you've been so grumpy lately? Missing your human?"

She gave another laugh as Ratchet, flustered and frustrated, spat out, "I am not! And she is not 'my human'. She is Optimus' charge."

"Whatever you say, Ratchet," Arcee rolled her optics. She tried to sit still as the medic fiddled around with connections at the base of her neck. Once again, the med bay fell into silence.

Several torturous minutes later, the doctor was finally satisfied with her check-up and prepared to release the femme. "I noticed that your blaster relays are slightly irregular. Keep that in mind when you're on recon tomorrow. It shouldn't be a problem in a battle but alert me if you have any difficulties in-."

Ratchet dropped his tools and Arcee leapt off the table, blasters at the ready, as a scream tore through the peaceful quiet of the base.

_A few moments earlier…_

"Hey, who's this?" Smokescreen asked, pointing to the now unconscious college student lying face down on the couch.

Jack glanced up from the Peanuts Halloween special on TV. "Oh, that's Michelle. She hasn't been here in a while so that's why you really haven't met her."

Bulkhead slapped the rookie on the back, "You'll like her. She's Optimus' human charge."

"Woah, really?" the sports car looked down at the human woman with instant, though unfounded, admiration. The rookie moved closer to the sleeping human. Bumblebee beeped a warning to the rookie but it went unheeded. Without a second thought, Smokescreen leaned in close, his face hovering just above the couch, and poked the woman.

The woman spun around and sat up with unrivaled speed, coming face to giant face with Smokescreen. With an unholy screech, the woman scrambled away from the rookie, who was still trying to process what had happened. Her scream was cut short as she fell off the couch and her head slammed into the nearby coffee table, effectively knocking her out-cold.

Smokescreen remained frozen in position, his digit still poised as if poking. After several moments of stunned silence, he sputtered, "W-what?..."

The poor mech barely had enough time to stumble backwards as Ratchet stormed into the main bay.

"What in the Pit did you do?!"

"I don't know!"

Ratchet turned first to Bulkhead for an explanation but quickly changed his mind and turned towards Jack instead. "What did he do?!"

Jack looked supremely uncomfortable under the medic's glare, even though he knew it was not meant for him. "He startled her."

Ratchet's glare turned back to Smokescreen. Arcee who had come in behind Ratchet, though far enough behind to avoid collateral damage, started to wonder if the medic was actually going to inspect the unconscious woman lying on the floor. She gave Jack a pointed look and he responded by quietly calling his mother.

"My patient is still recovering from injuries and you just added a concussion to that list!" The older mech smacked the rookie upside the cranial unit to emphasize his point.

Smokescreen, for all his self-confidence, looked ready to curl up and die. "I didn't know! How was I supposed to know? The other humans don't spaz out like that!"

Bumblebee raised his servo. Bulkhead chuckled quietly, "Actually, Bee tried to warn you."

"Ratchet?"

The Autobot team (minus Optimus) looked down at Jack Darby. The teenager pointed to the cell phone in his hand. Ratchet nodded and tapped into the call, moving away so as to speak more privately with the nurse on the other end of the line.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm stuck on curbside duty _all_ night!" Smokescreen moaned as Jack and Miko dumped candy from their full sacks into the mech's backseat. He was currently parked in some back alley, holding the kids' candy while they trick-or-treated. The group, as per Raf's research, was collecting their sweets in the top trick-or-treating city in the nation: San Francisco (Zillow . com rating). Unfortunately, the younger boy had been unable to accompany them on their excursion due to a stringent curfew. The race car sat low on his tires in boredom.

Jack looked around nervously, worried that someone might hear the talking car. But Miko just laughed and leaned on Smokescreen's driver side door. "It's your own fault, Screen. Everyone else on Team Prime knows that Michelle is the jumpiest person on the planet."

Teasingly, the girl poked Smokescreen's side view mirror, which twitched away in response.

"Time to move on to the next neighborhood?" Jack suggested. They had already hit three different neighborhoods so far and were making great time.

"Yeah, sure," Smokescreen responded unenthusiastically. He turned on his headlights and popped on the doors. "How long do you humans usually do this?"

"Aren't you having fun, Screen?" Miko fake pouted as she climbed into the passenger side. But then she smiled encouragingly at the dashboard console and offered, "I would totally share some of my candy with you if you could actually eat it!"

When the Autobot did not respond, Jack and Miko glanced at each other in confusion. Jack placed a hand lightly on the steering wheel in front of him. "Smokescreen?..."

"Pretty bitchin' ride you got here, kid."

Jack nearly jumped out of his skin upon hearing and seeing the man standing just outside the car door. The man seemed to be in his early forties; his friends in their late twenties. Miko looked out at them defiantly as they circled the race car like vultures. The ring leader remained by the driver side window, staring Jack down.

"Thanks," Jack replied cautiously. He didn't dare take his eyes off the man. "I'm just borrowing it for tonight, though."

The man laughed and suddenly pulled open the driver's door. "That's great! Out for a drive in mommy and daddy's fancy car? You won't mind if we take it for a test drive."

"Hey, look at all the candy they have in the back!"

Jack tried to take advantage of the man's quick glance towards one of his partners and pull the door closed. But the man was faster and stronger, holding the door open and pulling the teenage boy out of the car. With seemingly no effort, he threw Jack into the arms of one of the other men.

"Jack!" Miko screamed. The car door then slammed shut with such speed and force that it nearly took the man's hand off. The windows quickly rolled up and the doors locked.

The man and his friends looked stunned for several moments. But then one guy standing on the passenger side pulled out a gun and pointed it at the young girl inside the car. "Get out!"

For once, Miko was speechless, simply sitting frozen in her seat. Seconds crawled by and the two humans stared at each other. Finally, the man impatiently fired a warning shot at the car door.

Without even leaving a dent, the tiny bullet pinged off Smokescreen's metal armor and whizzed by the man's head before embedding itself in the brick wall behind him.

The leader scowled as his friend screeched and ran out of the alley, dropping his gun in the process. He turned to glare at the car before leveling his own gun at Jack, who was being restrained by two other goons. Jack, who had been struggling, froze and paled upon sight of the weapon. "I don't know what's going on here, but surrender the car and I'll let the kid go unharmed."

Smokescreen would have sneered had he been in bipedal mode. His headlights blinked slightly as he spoke. "I have a better idea: let the kid go and I won't squash you."

The leader tilted his head in confusion and looked at the car quizzically. It took several moments for him to process the information that his ears had just relayed to him. The car had just talked? He subconsciously lowered his arm (and the gun) as his brain tried to work out how the car had spoken and what the car had meant by 'squash'.

The Autobot swiftly took advantage of the man's distraction and transformed. During the transformation process, he smoothly swiped away the men standing by the passenger side door before depositing Miko behind him. He stood up straight, towering over the grown men by at least twenty feet. Two of them ran off with a screech, following after their other partner. The leader and one of the men holding Jack remained, though the leader had dropped his gun and the goon had let go of Jack's arm and backed against the wall.

Smokescreen bent down, his arms bent outwards so as to make himself seem larger and more intimidating. He glared at two of the three humans before him. "Boo!"

The last goon screamed and ran off, tripping over a garbage can in his attempt to escape. The leader, to his credit, didn't run but stumbled over some trash in an attempt to back away, falling into the wall. Jack took the chance to run and stand with Miko behind the rookie. The man cowered into the brick wall, visibly shaking.

"Please, don't hurt me!" he cried, holding up his arms before him as a meager defense. Jack finally noticed a wedding band upon the man's left hand and the ragged state of his clothes.

The Autobot race car brought his face close to the man's and angrily asked, "Why shouldn't I?"

"I-I have a family!" the man stuttered, on the verge of tears now. Smokescreen raised an optic ridge. "My wife is in the hospital being treated for breast cancer! I can't afford the medical bills on my wages so I have to make up the extra money by any means necessary!"

Smokescreen looked puzzled by the man's explanation. Jack stepped forward, holding up a hand to the Bot when the mech tried to stop him. "Grand theft auto is _not_ the best way to make extra cash."

The man was crying now, holding his head in his hands. "I don't have the education to get a better paying job and with this economy, it's hard to find work. So I make do by collecting cars and car parts for the boss to sell."

"You mean stealing," Miko pointed out as she peaked out from behind Smokescreen's leg.

Jack looked down at the man. Despite his anger at the man, he felt a small ping of pity for him. He could hear Smokescreen's systems revving agitatedly behind him. "You won't be helping your wife if you end up in jail. What's your name?"

"Richard Blake," the man sighed. He wrung his hands anxiously, glancing up at the large robot before him nervously every few moments. "I don't know where else to turn. I couldn't even take my babies out trick-or-treating tonight because I have a bill due in two days…"

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment before taking out his cellphone and quickly dialing a number. Richard jumped up in panic but stopped short when a large metal hand blocked his path. Smokescreen shook his head at the man. With his other servo, the mech rummaged around inside one of his interior compartments before pulling out a sack full of candy. He plopped it at the man's feet.

"Hey, that's our can-," Miko shut her mouth when Smokescreen narrowed his optics at her. She 'hmphed' and crossed her arms. "It's not like I was going to object or anything."

Richard looked up at Smokescreen with newfound hope, despite the seeming insignificance of the act. He mouthed a quiet 'thank you' before he scooped up the bag. He turned to Jack as the boy flipped his phone shut with a knowing smile.

"Our friend, William Fowler, his willing to help you with your wife's medical bills," Jack began. Richard instantly lit up with disbelief and hope. "But he needs something in return."

The man's face fell as quickly as it had lifted. It almost seemed as if 10 years had been tacked on. But Jack just gave a grim smile.

"He needs you to promise not to talk about him." The teenager pointed to Smokescreen, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his cranial unit with a servo. "He also needs you to promise not to participate in these… activities anymore, do some community service, and consider revealing the names of those in charge of the operations."

Richard nodded enthusiastically, relieved that that was all. He had expecting another shady deal considering the strangeness of the encounter. He graciously clasped Jack's hand in his own. "Of course! You don't know how much this means to me!"

Miko looked suspiciously at Jack's strained smile, though the older man didn't notice. The boy simply nodded and continued, "Fowler has access to your information and he said he will be contacting you tomorrow morning."

"Thank you so much!" Richard shook Jack's hand vigorously before turning and almost skipping away.

The two humans and Autobot watched the man disappear around the corner. Smokescreen let out a sigh. "Can we go back to base now?"

"Yeah, sure, Screen," Miko laughed, patting his leg. "I think we've all had enough excitement for one night."

As Smokescreen transformed, Miko shot another glance over at Jack. The raven-haired boy was staring off towards where the man had disappeared, an almost sad look on his face. But it was mixed with something else… anger.

"So why were you willing to help that guy so much, Jack?" she asked as they climbed into Smokescreen's alt mode again.

Jack looked reluctant to answer but slowly responded, "My dad left me and my mom when I was young. I don't want his kids to suffer the same fate."

Smokescreen shifted into drive and pulled out of the alley and onto the street. Miko narrowed her eyes at the boy-almost man in the driver's seat.

"Ok... but you could've just given him some speech about taking care of his kids," she began slowly. She noticed he seemed to be even tenser now than during the attempted mugging. "Why did you go out of your way to ask Fowler for help?"

Jack seemed to fight with himself for several moments. Miko sat still and uncharacteristically patient. The teenage boy opened and closed his mouth several times. Finally, he took a deep breath and, looking straight forward out the windshield, answered.

"Because he's my father."

* * *

**And there you go. Happy? Let me know. If I get some good responses I'll consider delving into this further *hint hint*. Until next time!**


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